puppy

puppy

English

A puppy (young dog)

Alternative forms

• puppie (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier puppie (“a woman's pet dog”), of uncertain origin, but probably from Middle English *puppee, *poupee, from Old French poupée, popée (“a doll; puppet”). More at puppet.

Mostly displaced native Middle English whelp (“puppy”), from Old English hwelp, whence Modern English whelp and whelpie.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌpi/, [ˈpʰɐpi]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌpi

Noun

puppy (plural puppies)

1. A young dog, especially before sexual maturity (12-18 months)
2. A young rat.
3. A young seal.
4. (slang, usually in the plural) A woman’s breast.
   • 2007, Rodney Carrington, Show Them To Me (from the album King of the Mountains)

     Unclasp your bra and set those puppies free.

5. (informal) A (generic) thing; particularly something that is a nuisance; a sucker.

   I have another two dozen of these puppies to finish before I can go home.

6. (derogatory, dated) A conceited and impertinent person, especially a young man.
   • 1711 July 24 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “FRIDAY, July 13, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 106; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:

     I found my place taken by an ill-bred, awkward puppy with a money bag under each arm.

Synonyms

• (young dog): dogling, pup, whelp, whelpie
• (young seal): pup
• (woman’s breast): See also Thesaurus:breast

Derived terms

• common mudpuppy
• common mud puppy
• dog puppy
• Hush Puppies
• hush puppy
• hushpuppy
• mudpuppy
• mud puppy
• puppy dog
• puppy-eyed
• puppy fat
• puppyhood
• puppy love
• puppy mill
• puppy milling
• puppy school
• sand puppy
• sick puppy
• stress puppy
• sweater puppies
• wolf puppy

 

Translations

young dog

Afrikaans: hondjie (af) n Arabic: جَرْو‎ (ar) m (jarw) Moroccan Arabic: كليب‎ m (kliyyib) Armenian: լակոտ (hy) (lakot), թուլա (hy) (tʿula), քոթոթ (hy) (kʿotʿotʿ) Aromanian: cãtsãl m Asturian: perrín m, cachorru (ast) m Avar: таращ (tarašš) Bashkir: көсөк (kösök) Basque: txakurkume (eu) Belarusian: шчаню́к m (ščanjúk), шчаня́ n (ščanjá), шчанё n (ščanjó), цю́цька f (cjúcʹka) Bengali: কুত্তার বাচ্চা (bn) (kuttar bacca), কুকুরছানা (bn) (kukurchana) Bulgarian: ку́ченце (bg) n (kúčence) Burmese: ခွေးကလေး (my) (hkwe:ka.le:) Catalan: cadell (ca) m Central Dusun: duku Chinese: Cantonese: 狗仔 (gau2 zai2) Mandarin: 小狗 (zh) (xiǎogǒu) Cornish: kolyn Crimean Tatar: küçelek, boşıq Czech: štěně (cs) n Danish: hvalp (da) c Dutch: puppy (nl) m or f Esperanto: hundido (eo), hundidino (female) Estonian: kutsikas Even: качикан (kacikan) Finnish: pentu (fi), penikka (fi), koiranpentu (fi) French: chiot (fr) m Friulian: nassint m Gagauz: pali Galician: cachorro (gl) m, cadelo (gl) m Gallurese: catteddu Georgian: ლეკვი (leḳvi) German: Welpe (de) m, Hündchen (de) n, Hundewelpe (de) m, junger Hund m, Hundebaby n (colloquial) Greek: κουτάβι (el) n (koutávi) Ancient: κῠνίδιον n (kunídion), σκύλαξ m (skúlax) Greenlandic: qimmiaraq Gujarati: ગલૂડિયું (galūḍiyũ), કુરકુરિયું (kurkuriyũ) Hebrew: כלבלב‎ (he) m, גּוּר‎ (he) m (gur) Hungarian: kiskutya (hu), kölyökkutya (hu) Hindi: पिल्ला (hi) m (pillā) Iban: anak chauk Icelandic: hvolpur m Ido: hundyuno (io), hundyunulo (male), hundyunino (female) Ilocano: uken Indonesian: anak anjing Irish: coileáinín m Italian: cucciolo (it) m, cagnolino (it) m, cagnetto (it) m Japanese: 子犬 (こいぬ, koinu) Jarai: nĕng Javanese: kirik (jv) Kazakh: күшік (küşık) Khmer: កូនឆ្កែ (koun chkae) Korean: 강아지 (ko) (gang'aji) Lao: ລູກໝາ (lūk mā), ລູກຫມາ (lūk mā) Latgalian: kucāns m, sunāns m Latin: catulus m, catellus m Latvian: kucēns m Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: кученце n (kučence), кутре n (kutre) Malay: Jawi: انق انجيڠ‎, انق اسو‎, کيريق‎ Rumi: anak anjing, anak asu, kirik (ms) Maltese: ġeru m, ġerwa f Manchu: ᠨᡳᠶᠠᡥᠠᠨ (niyahan) Maranao: tito Mazanderani: کتکا‎ (kətkâ) Mi'kmaq: lmu'ji'j, nmu'ji'j Mongolian: гөлөг (mn) (gölög), нохойн гөлөг (noxojn gölög) Montagnais: atimuss Navajo: łééchąąyázhí Nepali: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: valp (no) m Nynorsk: kvalp m, kvelp m Occitan: cadèl (oc) m, cadèu (oc) m, gosset m, canhòt (oc) m, canhon m Old English: hwelp m Persian: توله سگ‎ (fa) (tule sag) Punjabi: ਕਤੂਰਾ (pa) m (katūrā) Polish: szczeniak (pl) m, szczenię (pl) n Portuguese: filhote de cão m, cachorro (pt) m, cachorrinho (pt) m Quechua: allqucha Romani: rikono m, zhukeloro m Romanian: cățel (ro) m, cățeluș (ro) m Russian: щено́к (ru) m (ščenók), (colloquial) цу́цик (ru) m (cúcik), кутёнок (ru) m (kutjónok) Sardinian: Campidanese: catteddu, calleddu, cacciurru Logudorese: cacciùcciu, catteddu Sassarese: catteddu, cucciucciu Scottish Gaelic: cuilean m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: штѐне n, ште́нац m Roman: štène (sh) n, šténac (sh) m Sherpa: please add this translation if you can Sicilian: cagnolu (scn) m Slovak: šteňa (sk) n Slovene: kužek m, ščene n Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: šćenje n Southern Altai: кӱчӱк (küčük) Spanish: cachorro (es) m, perrito (es) m Swedish: hundvalp (sv) c, valp (sv) c Tagal Murut: kuku Tagalog: tuta Tamil: நாய்க்குட்டி (ta) (nāykkuṭṭi) Telugu: కుక్కపిల్ల (te) (kukkapilla) Thai: ลูกหมา (lûuk-mǎa) Tibetan: ཁྱི་ཕྲུག (khyi phrug), ཨ་ཡོ་འོ (a yo 'o) Turkish: enik (tr), yavru köpek, köpek yavrusu Turkmen: güjük Ukrainian: цуценя́ (uk) n (cucenjá), щеня́ n (ščenjá), собача́ n (sobačá) Venetian: cagnol Vietnamese: chó con, cún (vi), cún con Volapük: dogül (vo) Walloon: tchinot (wa) m, djonne di tchén m Welsh: ci bach (cy) m Wolof: kuti bi (wo) Yiddish: הינטעלע‎ n (hintele)

young rat

Esperanto: ratido French: raton (fr) m German: Rattenjunges n Latin: musculus Occitan: raton m Portuguese: ratinho (pt) m Romanian: raton (ro) m Swedish: råttunge (sv) c Volapük: ratül

young seal

Bulgarian: тюленче n (tjulenče) Esperanto: fokido, marhundido Finnish: kuutti (fi) German: Heuler (de) m, Robbenbaby (de) n, Robbenjunges n, Seehundjunges n Indonesian: anak anjing laut Latin: phocula Macedonian: фокиче n (fokiče) Scottish Gaelic: isean m, cuilean m Swedish: kut (sv) c Volapük: fukül

slang: a woman’s breast

Bulgarian: цици (bg) f pl (cici) Persian: پستان‎ (fa)

Verb

puppy (third-person singular simple present puppies, present participle puppying, simple past and past participle puppied)

1. (transitive) To bring forth whelps or give birth to pups.

Synonyms

• pup
• whelp