name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
whale
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.
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈweɪl/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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British, Southern, Standard: /ˈwɛj(ə)l/
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Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈwæɪl/
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Wales: /ˈweːl/ without the pane–pain merger
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Scotland: /ˈʍel/ without the wine–whine merger
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Ireland: /ˈʍeːl/ without the wine–whine merger
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rhymes with -eɪl
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homophone: wale (wine–whine merger)
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homophone: wail (both wine–whine merger and pane–pain merger)
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CMU ARPABET: W EY1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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CMU ARPABET 2: HH W EY1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A hamlet in Lowther parish, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, previously in Eden district (OS grid ref NY5221).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Any large cetacean, usually with the exclusion of dolphins and porpoises.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Near-synonym: baleen (obsolete sense)
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: baleen
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: whale, cetacean, marine mammal, mammal, vertebrate, animal, organism, creature
noun
Meaning 4
Any species of Cetacea.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cetacean
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: marine mammal, mammal, vertebrate, animal, organism, creature
noun
Meaning 5
Something, or someone, that is very large.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
Something, or someone, that is excellent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A gambler who routinely wagers large amounts of money.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Topics: gambling, games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: high roller
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
An investor who deals with very large amounts of money.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, informal
Topics: business, finance
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
A person who spends large amounts of money on things that are marketed to them.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Topics: business, marketing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
An overweight person (usually a woman)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: colloquial, derogatory, figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To hunt for whales.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
To thrash, to flog, to beat vigorously or soundly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, transitive
Examples
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:whale.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 13
any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cetacean, cetacean mammal, blower
Narrower terms: baleen whale, whalebone whale, toothed whale, narwhal, narwal, narwhale, Monodon monoceros, spouter
noun
Meaning 14
a very large person; impressive in size or qualities
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: giant, hulk, heavyweight
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: large person
verb
Meaning 15
hunt for whales
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: hunt, run, hunt down, track down
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kwálos Proto-Germanic *hwalaz Proto-West Germanic *hwal Old English hwæl Middle English whal English whale From Middle English whal, whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kwálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).
Uncertain. Perhaps a variant of wale influenced by whack, whap, etc.
Across languages
Translations
271 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: walvis — large sea mammal
- Ainu: フンペ (humpe) — large sea mammal
- Albanian: balenë — large sea mammal
- Aleut: alax̂ — large sea mammal
- Alutor: юӈюӈ (juŋjuŋ) — large sea mammal
- Alutor: юӈый (juŋəj) — large sea mammal
- Arabic: حُوت (ḥūt) — large sea mammal
- Arabic: حُوت (ḥūt) — large sea mammal
- Aragonese: ballena — large sea mammal
- Aramaic: ܩܐܛܐ (qēṭā) — large sea mammal
- Armenian: կետ (ket) — large sea mammal
- Assamese: তিমি (timi) — large sea mammal
- Assamese: তিমি মাছ (timi mas) — large sea mammal
- Asturian: ballena — large sea mammal
- Avar: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Azerbaijani: balina — large sea mammal
- Azerbaijani: kit — large sea mammal
- West Coast Bajau: paus — large sea mammal
- Balinese: paus — large sea mammal
- Baluchi: لیڑ (líř) — large sea mammal
- Basque: balea — large sea mammal
- Belarusian: кіт (kit) — large sea mammal
- Bengali: তিমি (timi) — large sea mammal
- Bau Bidayuh: paos — large sea mammal
- Bau Bidayuh: kien paos — large sea mammal
- Biatah Bidayuh: paus — large sea mammal
- Bislama: welfis — large sea mammal
- Breton: balum — large sea mammal
- Bulgarian: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Burmese: ဝေလငါး (wela.nga:) — large sea mammal
- Burmese: ငါးဝန် (nga:wan) — large sea mammal
- Catalan: balena — large sea mammal
- Cebuano: balyena — large sea mammal
- Chavacano: ballena — large sea mammal
- Chechen: докх (doq) — large sea mammal
- Cherokee: ᏓᏆ (daqua) — large sea mammal
- Chinese Cantonese: 鯨魚 /鲸鱼 — large sea mammal
- Chinese: җинйү (jinyü) — large sea mammal
- Eastern Min Chinese: 鯨魚 /鲸鱼 (gĭng-ngṳ̀) — large sea mammal
- Hakka Chinese: 鯨魚 /鲸鱼 (kîn-ǹg) — large sea mammal
- Chinese: 海翁 (zh-min-nan) — large sea mammal
- Chinese: 鯨魚 /鲸鱼 (kiang-hî) — large sea mammal
- Chinese Mandarin: 鯨魚 /鲸鱼 (jīngyú) — large sea mammal
- Wu Chinese: 鯨魚 /鲸鱼 (6jin-ng) — large sea mammal
- Choctaw: nʋni chito — large sea mammal
- Chukchi: ръэв (rʺėv) — large sea mammal
- Chukchi: ръэвыт (rʺėvyt) — large sea mammal
- East Circassian: джей (džej) — large sea mammal
- West Circassian: джейхэр (džejxɛr) — large sea mammal
- Cornish: morvil — large sea mammal
- Corsican: balena — large sea mammal
- Crimean Tatar: kit — large sea mammal
- Czech: velryba — large sea mammal
- Danish: hval — large sea mammal
- Dutch: walvis — large sea mammal
- Elfdalian: wal — large sea mammal
- Emilian: baläṅna — large sea mammal
- Erzya: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Esperanto: baleno — large sea mammal
- Estonian: vaal — large sea mammal
- Even: калим (kalim) — large sea mammal
- Evenki: калим (kalim) — large sea mammal
- Faroese: hvalur — large sea mammal
- Fijian: tavuto — large sea mammal
- Fijian: tovuto — large sea mammal
- Finnish: valas — large sea mammal
- French: baleine — large sea mammal
- Old French: balaine — large sea mammal
- Old French: baleine — large sea mammal
- West-Frisian: walfisk — large sea mammal
- Friulian: balene — large sea mammal
- Galician: balea — large sea mammal
- Georgian: ვეშაპი (vešaṗi) — large sea mammal
- German: Wal — large sea mammal
- Old High German: wal — large sea mammal
- Greek: φάλαινα (fálaina) — large sea mammal
- Ancient Greek: φάλλαινα (phállaina) — large sea mammal
- Ancient Greek: κῆτος (kêtos) — large sea mammal
- Greenlandic: arfeq — large sea mammal
- Guinea-Bissau Creole: baleia — large sea mammal
- Gujarati: વ્હેલ માછલી (vhel māchlī) — large sea mammal
- Gujarati: તિમિ (timi) — large sea mammal
- Haida: kun — large sea mammal
- Haida: kung̱aawagan — large sea mammal
- Haitian Creole: balèn — large sea mammal
- Halkomelem: qwél:es — large sea mammal
- Hawaiian: koholā — large sea mammal
- Hebrew: לווייתן \ לִוְיָתָן (livyatán) — large sea mammal
- Hindi: व्हेल (vhel) — large sea mammal
- Hindi: ह्वेल (hvel) — large sea mammal
- Hindi: तिमि (timi) — large sea mammal
- Hindi: तिमिंगल (timiṅgal) — large sea mammal
- Hungarian: bálna — large sea mammal
- Hungarian: cet — large sea mammal
- Iban: ikan bam — large sea mammal
- Icelandic: hvalur — large sea mammal
- Ido: baleno — large sea mammal
- Ilocano: balyena — large sea mammal
- Indonesian: ikan paus — large sea mammal
- Ingrian: kiitta — large sea mammal
- Inuktitut: ᐊᕐᕕᒃ (arfik) — large sea mammal
- Inupiaq: agviq — large sea mammal
- Irish: míol mór — large sea mammal
- Italian: balena — large sea mammal
- Japanese: 鯨 (kujira) — large sea mammal
- Japanese: クジラ (kujira) — large sea mammal
- Japanese: 勇魚 (isana) — large sea mammal
- Javanese: lodan — large sea mammal
- Javanese: timinggila — large sea mammal
- Javanese: iwak gajah — large sea mammal
- Kalmyk: тул заһсн (tul zağsn) — large sea mammal
- Kannada: ತಿಮಿಂಗಿಲ (timiṅgila) — large sea mammal
- Kapampangan: dambuala — large sea mammal
- Karipúna Creole French: balén — large sea mammal
- Karok: ishkêet — large sea mammal
- Karok: ípar — large sea mammal
- Kazakh: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Kazakh: науан (nauan) — large sea mammal
- Khmer: ពិន្ទង (pintɔɔng) — large sea mammal
- Klamath-Modoc: Ɂalhaq — large sea mammal
- Korean: 고래 (gorae) — large sea mammal
- Central Kurdish: نەھەنگ (neheng) — large sea mammal
- Northern Kurdish: neheng — large sea mammal
- Kwak'wala: g̱wa̱'ya̱m — large sea mammal
- Kyrgyz: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Ladino: balena — large sea mammal
- Lao: ວານ (wān) — large sea mammal
- Lao: ບາແລນ (bā lǣn) — large sea mammal
- Lao: ປາວານ (pā wān) — large sea mammal
- Latin: balaena — large sea mammal
- Latvian: valis — large sea mammal
- Ligurian: balénn-a — large sea mammal
- Lingala: mondɛ́lɛ́ — large sea mammal
- Linngithigh: thok — large sea mammal
- Lithuanian: banginis — large sea mammal
- Lombard: balèna — large sea mammal
- Low German: Waal — large sea mammal
- Luxembourgish: Wal — large sea mammal
- Macedonian: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Malagasy: trozona — large sea mammal
- Malay: ikan paus — large sea mammal
- Malay: paus — large sea mammal
- Malay: lodan — large sea mammal
- Malay: mina — large sea mammal
- Malayalam: തിമിംഗലം (timiṅgalaṁ) — large sea mammal
- Maltese: balena — large sea mammal
- Maltese: baliena — large sea mammal
- Manchu: ᠪᠣᠣ ᠨᡳᠮᠠᡥᠠ (boo nimaha) — large sea mammal
- Manx: meeyl mooar — large sea mammal
- Māori: ika moana — large sea mammal
- Marathi: देवमासा (devmāsā) — large sea mammal
- Mauritian Creole: labalenn — large sea mammal
- Central Melanau: pauih — large sea mammal
- Mele-Fila: tafurā — large sea mammal
- Middle English: whal — large sea mammal
- Moksha: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Mongolian: халим (xalim) — large sea mammal
- Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠯᠢᠮᠤ (qalimu) — large sea mammal
- Nahuatl: huēyimichin — large sea mammal
- Nanai: калима (kalima) — large sea mammal
- Navajo: łóóʼtsoh — large sea mammal
- Nepali: तिमि (timi) — large sea mammal
- Ngarrindjeri: kondoli — large sea mammal
- Nheengatu: pirawasú — large sea mammal
- Nivkh: кеӈ (keŋ) — large sea mammal
- Nootka: ʔiiḥtuup — large sea mammal
- Norwegian Bokmål: hval — large sea mammal
- Norwegian Bokmål: kval — large sea mammal
- Norwegian Nynorsk: kval — large sea mammal
- Occitan: balena — large sea mammal
- Odia: ତିମି (timi) — large sea mammal
- Okinawan: ぐじら (guzira) — large sea mammal
- Church Slavic: к҄итъ (kʹitŭ) — large sea mammal
- Old East Slavic: китъ (kitŭ) — large sea mammal
- Old English: hwæl — large sea mammal
- Old Tupi: pirapu'ã — large sea mammal
- Palauan: medob — large sea mammal
- Pangasinan: lampasot — large sea mammal
- Pannonian Rusyn: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Pashto: نهنګ (naháng) — large sea mammal
- Middle Persian: 𐭪𐭥𐭩 — large sea mammal
- Iranian Persian: نَهَنْگ (nahang) — large sea mammal
- Iranian Persian: وال (vâl) — large sea mammal
- Piedmontese: balen-a — large sea mammal
- Plautdietsch: Waulfesch — large sea mammal
- Pohnpeian: roahs — large sea mammal
- Polish: wieloryb — large sea mammal
- Polish: waleń — large sea mammal
- Kashaya: pu·šu — large sea mammal
- Portuguese: baleia — large sea mammal
- Rapa Nui: taʻoraha — large sea mammal
- Romagnol: baléna — large sea mammal
- Romanian: balenă — large sea mammal
- Romansh: balena — large sea mammal
- Russian: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Saanich: ḰENES — large sea mammal
- Kildin-Sami: ва̄лесь (vāl’es’) — large sea mammal
- Northern Sami: fális — large sea mammal
- Samoan: tafolā — large sea mammal
- Sanskrit: तिमि (timi) — large sea mammal
- Savosavo: ghuraghura — large sea mammal
- Scots: whaul — large sea mammal
- Scottish Gaelic: muc-mhara — large sea mammal
- Serbo-Croatian: ки̏т — large sea mammal
- Serbo-Croatian: велриба — large sea mammal
- Serbo-Croatian: kȉt — large sea mammal
- Serbo-Croatian: velriba — large sea mammal
- Seri: ziix hapx coom — large sea mammal
- Seri: aasj — large sea mammal
- Sicilian: balena — large sea mammal
- Sie: tovura — large sea mammal
- Slovak: veľryba — large sea mammal
- Slovene: kit — large sea mammal
- Lower Sorbian: wjelryba — large sea mammal
- Upper Sorbian: wjelryba — large sea mammal
- Sotho: leruarua — large sea mammal
- Spanish: ballena — large sea mammal
- Swahili: nyangumi — large sea mammal
- Swedish: val — large sea mammal
- Tagalog: balyena — large sea mammal
- Tagalog: tandayag — large sea mammal
- Tahitian: tohorā — large sea mammal
- Tajik: наҳанг (nahang) — large sea mammal
- Tajik: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Tamil: சிலக்குணம் (cilakkuṇam) — large sea mammal
- Tamil: சிலத்திற்கடுகு (cilattiṟkaṭuku) — large sea mammal
- Tamil: திமிங்கிலம் (timiṅkilam) — large sea mammal
- Tatar: кит (kit) — large sea mammal
- Telugu: తిమింగలం (timiṅgalaṁ) — large sea mammal
- Tetum: baleia — large sea mammal
- Thai: วาฬ (waan) — large sea mammal
- Thai: ปลาวาฬ (bplaa-waan) — large sea mammal
- Tibetan: ཆུ་སྲིན (chu srin) — large sea mammal
- Tigrinya: ዓሳ ነባሪ (ʿasa näbari) — large sea mammal
- Tongan: tofuāʻa — large sea mammal
- Tswana: leruarua — large sea mammal
- Turkish: balina — large sea mammal
- Ottoman Turkish: آطه بالغی (ada balığı) — large sea mammal
- Ottoman Turkish: بالنه (balena) — large sea mammal
- Turkmen: kit — large sea mammal
- Ukrainian: кит (kyt) — large sea mammal
- Unami: mpiàxkw — large sea mammal
- Urdu: وہیل (vhel) — large sea mammal
- Urdu: وھیل (vhel) — large sea mammal
- Uyghur: كىت (kit) — large sea mammal
- Uzbek: kit — large sea mammal
- Venetan: bałéna — large sea mammal
- Vietnamese: cá voi — large sea mammal
- Vietnamese: cá ông — large sea mammal
- Vietnamese: cá ông voi — large sea mammal
- Vietnamese: kình ngư — large sea mammal
- Volapük: valüt — large sea mammal
- Walloon: ballaînn — large sea mammal
- Welsh: morfil — large sea mammal
- Welsh: morfilod — large sea mammal
- Woiwurrung: be-ti-el — large sea mammal
- Yámana: wápisa — large sea mammal
- Yiddish: וואַלפֿיש (valfish) — large sea mammal
- Yurok: hekwsa' — large sea mammal
- Zhuang: ginghyiz — large sea mammal
- Chinese Mandarin: 捕鯨 /捕鲸 (bǔjīng) — hunt for whales
- Czech: velrybařit — hunt for whales
- Finnish: pyytää valaita — hunt for whales
- Polish: polować na wieloryby — hunt for whales
- Bulgarian: бия (bija) — to beat vigorously
- Bulgarian: пердаша (perdaša) — to beat vigorously
- German: verhauen — to beat vigorously
- Polish: tłuc — to beat vigorously
- Polish: stłuc — to beat vigorously
- Polish: młócić — to beat vigorously
- Polish: zmłócić — to beat vigorously
Real reading context