Standard Lemma guide

spermaceti

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌspɜːməˈsiːti/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /spɚməˈsiːti/
  • General-American: /spɚməˈsɛti/
  • General-American, obsolete, proscribed: /spɚməˈsɪti/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A wax obtained from the head of sperm whales and used to make cosmetics, etc; humans separate it out from sperm oil.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • Holonym: sperm oil

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: whale oil, oil, lipid

2

noun

Meaning 2

a white waxy substance from oil of the sperm whale

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wax

History

Etymology

From Latin sperma (“sperm”) + Latin cētī (“of the whale”, genitive of cētus).

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: спермацет (spermacet) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Bulgarian: китова мас (kitova mas) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鯨蠟 /鲸蜡 (jīnglà) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鯨腦 /鲸脑 (jīngnǎo) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Finnish: spermaseetti — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • German: Walrat — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • German: Spermazet — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Italian: spermaceti — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Latin: caetaceum — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kvalrav — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: spermasett — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Polish: spermacet — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Polish: olbrot — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Russian: спермаце́т (spermacét) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Spanish: esperma de ballena — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Spanish: espermaceti — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Swedish: valrav — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Tagalog: esperma — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Turkish: ispermeçet — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Turkish: balıknefesi — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Ottoman Turkish: اسپرماچت (ispermaçet) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Ottoman Turkish: بالق نفسی (balık nefesi) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale
  • Ukrainian: спермаце́т (spermacét) — wax obtained from the head of sperm whale