porcupine

English

Hystrix indica, an Old World porcupine

Erethizon dorsatum, a New World porcupine

Alternative forms

porpentine, porpintine (archaic alterations of porcupine)

Etymology

From Middle English porke despyne, from Old French porc-espin, from Latin porcus (“pig”) + spinus (“spine”), hence also spine pig. Cognate with Spanish puercoespín, Italian porcospino, Portuguese porco-espinho.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpɔː(ɹ)kjʊˌpaɪn/
- Audio (Berkshire, UK) (file)
(colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔː(ɹ)kiˌpaɪn/, /ˈpɔː(ɹ)kɪˌpaɪn/, /ˈpɔː(ɹ)kəˌpaɪn/

Noun

porcupine (plural porcupines)

Any of several rodents of either of the taxonomic families Hystricidae (Old World porcupines) or Erethizontidae (New World porcupines), both from the infraorder Hystricognathi, noted for their sharp spines or quills, which are raised when the animal is attacked or surprised.
- 1981, Adolph Murie, The Grizzlies of Mount McKinley, page 218,
  I have no evidence of grizzlies killing porcupines or vice versa. However, occasionally there is contact and sometimes a grizzly is injured or a porcupine killed, but the latter is rare.
- 2010, Richard Potts, Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai, page 81,
  In particular, porcupines, hyenas, and leopards are known in Africa to transport bones to particular places.
- 2011, John P. Rafferty, Rats, Bats, and Xenarthrans, page 113,
  Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair. No porcupine can throw its quills, but they detach easily and will remain embedded in an attacker.

Synonyms

(any species of Hystricidae or Erethizontidae): spine pig, porky

Hyponyms

(any species of Erethizontidae): porcupette (baby porcupine)

Derived terms

African brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus africanus)
Andean porcupine (Coendou quichua)
Bahia porcupine (Sphiggurus insidiosus)
bicolored-spined porcupine (Coendou bicolor)
black dwarf porcupine (Coendou nycthemera)
black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus melanurus)
Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis)
bristle-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus) ( = bristle-spined rat)
brown hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus vestitus)
Canada porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)
Canadian porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)
common porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)
crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata)
frosted hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus pruinosus)
Koopman's porcupine (Coendou nycthemera)
Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus mexicanus)
Mexican tree porcupine (Sphiggurus mexicanus)
New World porcupine (Erethizontidae)
North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)
Old World porcupine (Hystricidae)
orange-spined hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus villosus)
Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus spinosus)
Porcs
Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP)
Porcupine Bank
porcupine caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) ( = Grant's caribou)
Porcupine Creek
porcupine family
Porcupine Flat Campground
porcupinefish, porcupine fish (Tetraodontidae)
porcupine flower (Barleria prionitis)
Porcupine Freedom Festival (PorcFest)
Porcupine Gold Rush
Porcupine Gorge National Park, Queensland, Australia ( = Porcupine Gorge)
Porcupine Hills
Porcupine Lake
Porcupine Mall
Porcupine Meadows Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, ( = Porcupine Meadows Park)
Porcupine Mountains, Michigan ( = Porkies)
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Porcupine, Ontario
Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan
Porcupine River
Porcupine Seabight
Porcupine, South Dakota
Porcupine, Wisconsin
prehensile-tailed porcupine (Coendou)
Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus roosmalenorum)
Rothschild's porcupine (Coendou rothschildi)
Santa Marta porcupine (Coendou sanctamartae)
South Porcupine, (Ontario) (SoPo)
streaked dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus ichillus)
stump-tailed porcupine (Echinoprocta rufescens)
thin-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus) ( = bristle-spined rat)
USS Porcupine

Related terms

Chaetomyinae
Chaetomys
Coendou
echimyid
Echimyidae
Echinoprocta
Erethizon
erethizontid
Erethizontinae
erethizontine
hystricid
hystricine
Hystricognathi
porcine
porcus
porcupette
porky
porpentine
Sphiggurus

Translations

large rodent

Abenaki: kôgw (kɔ̃ɡʷ)
Acholi: coo
Afrikaans: ystervark
Apache:
Western Apache: dahszíné
Arabic: نَيْص‎ m (nayṣ)
Hijazi Arabic: نيص‎ m (nēṣ)
Armenian: խոզուկ (hy) (xozuk), ոզնի (hy) (ozni)
Assamese: কেঁটেলা পহু (kẽtela pohu)
Asturian: escurpín m, gochuspín m, perrucuspín m
Azerbaijani: oxlu kirpi
Basque: arantzurde
Bau Bidayuh: bidiek
Belarusian: дзікабра́з m (dzikabráz)
Bulgarian: бодливо прасе n (bodlivo prase)
Burmese: ဖြူ (my) (hpru), ဖြူကောင် (hprukaung)
Catalan: porc espí m
Central Melanau: tejaan, tetuong
Cherokee: ᏧᏥ (tsutsi), ᎣᎦᎾᎢᏳᏍᏗ ᏧᏥᏲᏍᏗ (oganaiyusdi tsutsiyosdi)
Cheyenne: heškovėstse
Chichewa: nungu
Chinese:
Mandarin: 豪豬／豪猪 (zh) (háozhū)
Cree: ᑳᑿ (kaakwa)
Czech: dikobraz (cs) m
Dakota: pahiŋ
Danish: hulepindsvin n, træpindsvin n
Dutch: stekelvarken (nl) n
Esperanto: histriko
Estonian: okassiga
Finnish: piikkisika (fi)
Fox: akâkwa
French: porc-épic (fr) m
Galician: porco espiño (gl) m
Georgian: მაჩვზღარბა (mačvzɣarba)
German: Stachelschwein (de) n, Baumstachler m, Baumstachelschwein n, Urson (de) m, Quastenstachler m
Greek: ακανθόχοιρος (el) m (akanthóchoiros)
Ancient: ὕστριξ m or f (hústrix)
Gujarati: શાહુડી (śāhuḍī)
Hebrew: דורבן / דָּרְבָּן‎ (he) m (dorbán)
Hindi: साही (hi) f (sāhī)
Hopi: muungyaw
Hungarian: sül (hu)
Hunsrik: Stacheldier n
Iban: landak
Indonesian: landak (id)
Inuktitut: ᐃᓛᖁᑦᓯᖅ (ilaaqotsiq)
Irish: torcán m
Italian: istrice (it) m, porcospino (it) m
Japanese: ヤマアラシ (ja) (yamaarashi), 山荒 (やまあらし, yamaarashi)
Jingpho: dumsi
Kalasha: šu
Kazakh: жайра (jaira)
Khmer: ប្រមា (km) (prɑmaa), កាំប្រមា (km) (kam prɑmaa)
Kikuyu: njege class 9/10
Kimaragang: wutun, lisis
Korean: 호저 (hojeo), 산미치광이 (sanmichigwang'i)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: سیخوڕ‎ (ku) (sîxurr), سووچەڕ‎ (ku) (sûçerr)
Northern Kurdish: sîxurr (ku)
Southern Kurdish: سیخوْڕ‎ (ku) (sîxwirr), سۊچەڕ‎ (süçerr), سێخچووڵی‎ (sêxçûllî)
Kyrgyz: чүткөр (ky) (çütkör), жайра (ky) (jayra)
Lao: ເໝັ້ນ (lo) (men)
Latin: hystrix f
Latvian: dzeloņcūka f
Lithuanian: dygliatriušis m (some genera), ursonas m (other genera)
Luhya: enjekeche
Malay: landak, cewe duri
Marathi: साळू (sāḷū)
Mi'kmaq: matues anim
Mohegan-Pequot: kôq
Mon:ဗလေၚ် (mnw)
Montagnais: kakᵘ
Navajo: dahsání
Norwegian: hulepinnsvin
Bokmål: hulepiggsvin n, hulepinnsvin n, trepiggsvin n, trepinnsvin n
Nynorsk: holepiggsvin n, trepiggsvin n
Ojibwe: gaag
Ottoman Turkish: كرپی‎ (kirpi)
Pali: salla m, sallaka m
Pashto: ششګی‎ m (šašgáy)
Persian: تشی‎ (fa) (taši), سگرنه‎ (sogorne), ژیکاسه‎ (žikāse)
Polish: jeżozwierz (pl) m
Portuguese: porco-espinho (pt) m
Punjabi: ਸੇਹ (pa) f (seh)
Romanian: porc spinos, porc-ghimpos (ro) m
Russian: дикобра́з (ru) m (dikobráz)
Sebop: larak
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: дикобраз m
Roman: dikobraz (sh) m
Shan: မဵၼ်ႈ (shn) (māen)
Slovene: ježevec (sl) m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: štapata swinja f
Sotho: noko
Spanish: puercoespín (es) m
Swahili: nungunungu (sw) class 9/10
Swedish: piggsvin (sv) n, jordpiggsvin n, trädpiggsvin n
Tagal Murut: buuron, karuui
Tagalog: landak, pwerkospin
Tajik: ҷайра (jayra), дугпушт (dugpušt)
Tamil: முள்ளம்பன்றி (ta) (muḷḷampaṉṟi)
Thai: เม่น (th) (mên)
Turkish: oklu kirpi (tr)
Ukrainian: дикобра́з m (dykobráz)
Unami: kawiya
Urdu: سیہہ‎
Uyghur: جەيرە‎ (jeyre)
Uzbek: jayra (uz)
Vietnamese: nhím (vi)
Welsh: ballasg m
West Frisian: ychel (fy)
Wolof: saaw mi (wo)
Yiddish: שטעכל־חזיר‎ m (shtekhl-khazer), יאָזש‎ m (yozh) (also "hedgehog")
Yup'ik: ilaanquciq