Standard Lemma guide

rorqual

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.

  • General-American: /ˈɹɔɹkwəl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹɔːkwəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any whale of family Balaenopteridae, with longitudinal skin folds running from below the mouth to the navel, allowing the capacity of the mouth to expand greatly when feeding.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of several baleen whales of the family Balaenopteridae having longitudinal grooves on the throat and a small pointed dorsal fin

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: razorback

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: baleen whale, whalebone whale

Narrower terms: finback, finback whale, fin whale, common rorqual, Balaenoptera physalus, sei whale, Balaenoptera borealis, lesser rorqual, piked whale, minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata

History

Etymology

From Norwegian Nynorsk røyrkval, from Old Norse reyðarhvalr (“fin whale”).

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: rorqual — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Danish: finhval — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Dutch: vinvis — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Finnish: uurteisvalas — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • French: rorqual — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • German: Furchenwal — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Hungarian: barázdásbálna — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Italian: balenottera — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Norwegian: finnhval — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Polish: fałdowiec — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Portuguese: rorqual — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Russian: полоса́тик (polosátik) — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Spanish: rorcual — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Swahili: nyangumi mwenye mifuo ya kooni — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Swedish: fenval — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Welsh: rorcwal — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Welsh: morfil walbon — whale with long skin folds below mouth
  • Welsh: morfil asgellog — whale with long skin folds below mouth