Dictionary

rorqual en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹɔːkwəl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /ˈɹɔɹkwəl/ (General-American)

Etymology

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

Meanings

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.
   • Now then, the biggest whales, those rorqual whales that frequent the waterways of the Aleutian Islands, have never exceeded a length of 56 meters--if they reach even that. 2001 [1873], Frederick Paul Walter, transl., 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, Wikisource / Project Gutenberg, translation of Vingt mille lieues sous les mers by Jules Verne:

Forms

Deriveds

Sibbald's rorqual · lesser rorqual

Relateds

baleen

Synonyms

balaenopterid

Translations (18)

ca rorqual (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · no finnhval (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · sv fenval (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · da finhval (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · sw nyangumi mwenye mifuo ya kooni (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · pt rorqual (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · cy morfil walbon (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · fr rorqual (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · de Furchenwal (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · es rorcual (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · fi uurteisvalas (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · ru полоса́тик (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · pl fałdowiec (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · cy morfil asgellog (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · hu barázdásbálna (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · nl vinvis (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · it balenottera (whale with long skin folds below mouth) · cy rorcwal (whale with long skin folds below mouth)