Standard Lemma guide

narwhal

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈnɑːʍəl/
  • UK: /ˈnɑːwəl/
  • UK: /ˈnɑːˌʍeɪl/
  • UK: /ˈnɑːˌweɪl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈnɑɹʍəl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹwəl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹˌʍeɪl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹˌweɪl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹʍɔl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹwɔl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹʍɑl/
  • US: /ˈnɑɹwɑl/

1

noun

Meaning 1

An Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid that projects forward.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sea unicorn

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

small Arctic whale the male having a long spiral ivory tusk

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: narwal, narwhale, Monodon monoceros

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: whale

History

Etymology

From Dutch narwal or Danish/Norwegian Bokmål narhval, from Old Norse náhvalr, from nár (“corpse”) + hvalr (“whale”). Compare Icelandic náhvalur.

Across languages

Translations

79 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Albanian: narvali — Arctic cetacean
  • Arabic: حريش البحر (ḥarīš abaḥr) — Arctic cetacean
  • Armenian: միաժանի (miažani) — Arctic cetacean
  • Azerbaijani: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Basque: narbal — Arctic cetacean
  • Belarusian: нарвал (narval) — Arctic cetacean
  • Belarusian: аднарог (adnaróh) — Arctic cetacean
  • Breton: narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Bulgarian: нарвал (narval) — Arctic cetacean
  • Catalan: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Cherokee: ᎤᏲᎾ ᏓᏆ (uyona daqua) — Arctic cetacean
  • Chinese Mandarin: 獨角鯨 /独角鲸 (dújiǎojīng) — Arctic cetacean
  • Chinese Mandarin: 一角鯨 /一角鲸 (yījiǎojīng) — Arctic cetacean
  • Chinese Mandarin: 角鯨 /角鲸 (jiǎojīng) — Arctic cetacean
  • Chinese Mandarin: 長槍鯨 /长枪鲸 (chángqiāngjīng) — Arctic cetacean
  • Czech: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Danish: narhval — Arctic cetacean
  • Dutch: narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Esperanto: narvalo — Arctic cetacean
  • Estonian: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Faroese: náhvalur — Arctic cetacean
  • Finnish: sarvivalas — Arctic cetacean
  • French: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • French: licorne de mer — Arctic cetacean
  • Georgian: მარტოკბილა (marṭoḳbila) — Arctic cetacean
  • German: Narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Greek: φάλαινα νάρβαλ (fálaina nárval) — Arctic cetacean
  • Greenlandic: qilalugaq qernertaq — Arctic cetacean
  • Hungarian: narvál — Arctic cetacean
  • Icelandic: náhvalur — Arctic cetacean
  • Ido: narvalo — Arctic cetacean
  • Inuktitut: ᑑᒑᓕᒃ (toocaalik) — Arctic cetacean
  • Irish: narbhal — Arctic cetacean
  • Italian: narvalo — Arctic cetacean
  • Japanese: 一角 (ikkaku) — Arctic cetacean
  • Japanese: イッカク (ikkaku) — Arctic cetacean
  • Kazakh: сытқы (sytqy) — Arctic cetacean
  • Korean: 일각고래 (ilgakgorae) — Arctic cetacean
  • Latvian: narvalis — Arctic cetacean
  • Lithuanian: narvalas — Arctic cetacean
  • Lombard: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Macedonian: нарвал (narval) — Arctic cetacean
  • Manx: whale feeacklagh — Arctic cetacean
  • Manx: narwhal — Arctic cetacean
  • Norwegian Bokmål: narhval — Arctic cetacean
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: narkval — Arctic cetacean
  • Occitan: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Old English: nēohwæl — Arctic cetacean
  • Persian: ناروال (nârvâl) — Arctic cetacean
  • Persian: ختو (xotu) — Arctic cetacean
  • Polish: narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Polish: jednorożec — Arctic cetacean
  • Portuguese: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Romanian: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Russian: нарва́л (narvál) — Arctic cetacean
  • Russian: единоро́г (jedinoróg) — Arctic cetacean
  • Scottish Gaelic: muc-mhara adharcach — Arctic cetacean
  • Serbo-Croatian: на̀рвал — Arctic cetacean
  • Serbo-Croatian: је̏днорог — Arctic cetacean
  • Serbo-Croatian: nàrval — Arctic cetacean
  • Serbo-Croatian: jȅdnorog — Arctic cetacean
  • Slovak: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Slovene: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Slovene: enorog — Arctic cetacean
  • Slovene: samorog — Arctic cetacean
  • Lower Sorbian: narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Upper Sorbian: narwal — Arctic cetacean
  • Spanish: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Swedish: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Thai: นาร์วาล (naa-waan) — Arctic cetacean
  • Turkish: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Turkish: deniz gergedanı — Arctic cetacean
  • Ukrainian: нарва́л (narvál) — Arctic cetacean
  • Uzbek: нарвал (narval) — Arctic cetacean
  • Uzbek: narval — Arctic cetacean
  • Vietnamese: kì lân biển — Arctic cetacean
  • Welsh: môr-ungorn — Arctic cetacean
  • Welsh: morfil ungorn — Arctic cetacean