spermaceti en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /spɚməˈsɪti/ (General-American, obsolete, proscribed)
- /ˌspɜːməˈsiːti/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /spɚməˈsɛti/ (General-American)
- /spɚməˈsiːti/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Latin sperma (“sperm”) + Latin cētī (“of the whale”, genitive of cētus).
Meanings
-
(uncountable) A wax obtained from the head of sperm whales and used to make cosmetics, etc; humans separate it out from sperm oil.
Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 77, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:Holonym: sperm oil
Deriveds
spermaceti whale · spermaceti organ
Hypernyms
Translations (23)
ota بالق نفسی (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · uk спермаце́т (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · es esperma de ballena (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · nn spermasett (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · pl olbrot (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · tr balıknefesi (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · nn kvalrav (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · bg спермацет (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · cmn 鯨蠟 /鲸蜡 (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · pl spermacet (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · es espermaceti (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · bg китова мас (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · fi spermaseetti (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · cmn 鯨腦 /鲸脑 (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · de Spermazet (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · it spermaceti (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · de Walrat (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · tr ispermeçet (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · la caetaceum (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · ru спермаце́т (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · sv valrav (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · ota اسپرماچت (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale) · tl esperma (wax obtained from the head of sperm whale)