Macaroni penguin female are similar in appearance; males tend to be slightly larger. Males also bear relatively larger bills, which average around compared to in females; this feature has been used to tell the sexes apart. Immature birds are distinguished by their smaller size, smaller, duller-brown bill, dark grey chin and throat, and absent or underdeveloped head plumes, often just a scattering of yellow feathers. The crest is fully developed in birds aged three to four years, a year or two before breeding age. Macaroni penguins moult once a year, a process in which they replace all of their old feathers. They
Macaroni office (see modern Eastern Thrace's μαχαρωνιά - "macharōnia" in the sense of "rice-based dish served at the funeral"), in which case, the term would be composed of the double root of μακάριος "blessed" and αἰωνίος ("aiōnios"), "eternally". The second is the Greek μακαρία "barley broth", which would have added the suffix "-one". In his book "Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and their Food" (2007), John Dickie instead says that the word macaroni, and its earlier variants like "maccheroni", "comes from "maccare", meaning to pound or crush." The word first appears in English as "makerouns" in the 1390 "Forme of