Phrase guide

whale oil

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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various oils and fats extracted from the blubber of whales and used in the manufacture of soap and lubricants (and also formerly as an illuminating oil).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: oil, fat, lipid, natural resource

2

noun

Meaning 2

a white to brown oil obtained from whale blubber; formerly used as an illuminant

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: train oil

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: animal oil

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: китово масло (kitovo maslo) — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鯨油 /鲸油 (jīngyóu) — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Danish: hvalolje — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Dutch: walvistraan — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Finnish: valaanrasva — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Finnish: valaanöljy — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Finnish: valasöljy — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Galician: aceite de balea — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • German: Tran — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Italian: olio di balena — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Japanese: 鯨油 (geiyu) — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Māori: wē parāoa — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hvalolje — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Polish: tran wielorybi — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Romanian: ulei de cașalot — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Russian: во́рвань (vórvanʹ) — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Swedish: valolja — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber
  • Ukrainian: во́рвань (vórvanʹ) — oil or fat extracted from whale blubber