Etymology

porcupine

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Middle English porke despyne ← Old French porc-espin ← Latin porcus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromporcus“pig”
  2. Old French · derived fromporc-espin
  3. Middle English · inherited fromporke despyne
  4. English todayporcupine

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.

Words from the same roots

Latinporcus all →

porpoiseporcicideporcophiliaporcophobia

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.