Transcription
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
-
- [hweylz, weylz]
- /ʰweɪlz, weɪlz/
- /weɪl/
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [hweylz, weylz]
- /ʰweɪlz, weɪlz/
Definitions of whales word
- noun whales Bay of, an inlet of the Ross Sea, in Antarctica: location of Little America. 1
- noun plural whales any of the larger marine mammals of the order Cetacea, especially as distinguished from the smaller dolphins and porpoises, having a fishlike body, forelimbs modified into flippers, and a head that is horizontally flattened. 1
- noun plural whales Informal. something big, great, or fine of its kind: I had a whale of a time in Europe. 1
- noun plural whales (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Cetus. 1
- verb without object whales to engage in whaling or whale fishing. 1
- verb whales to hit, thrash, or beat soundly. 1
Information block about the term
Origin of whales
First appearance:
before 900 One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English; Old English hwæl; cognate with German Wal- in Walfisch, Old Norse hvalr; perhaps akin to Latin squalus kind of fish
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Whales
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
whales popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 89% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".
whales usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for whales
noun whales
- mammals — any vertebrate of the class Mammalia, having the body more or less covered with hair, nourishing the young with milk from the mammary glands, and, with the exception of the egg-laying monotremes, giving birth to live young.
- cetaceans — Plural form of cetacean.
- finbacks — Plural form of finback.
- grampus — a cetacean, Grampus griseus, of the dolphin family, widely distributed in northern seas.
- narwhal — a small arctic whale, Monodon monoceros, the male of which has a long, spirally twisted tusk extending forward from the upper jaw.
verb whales
- canings — Plural form of caning.
- ferules — Plural form of ferule.
- flitches — Plural form of flitch.
- horsewhips — Plural form of horsewhip.
- flails — Plural form of flail.
adjective whales
- whalers — Plural form of whaler.
Top questions with whales
- what do whales eat?
- how long do whales live?
- what do killer whales eat?
- how do whales mate?
- why do whales breach?
- how do whales sleep?
- what do blue whales eat?
- what time is it in whales?
- how long do killer whales live?
- how big are blue whales?
- what is a group of whales called?
- how many teeth do whales have?
- where do blue whales live?
- what do humpback whales eat?
- why do whales jump out of the water?
See also
Matching words
- Words starting with w
- Words starting with wh
- Words starting with wha
- Words starting with whal
- Words starting with whale
- Words starting with whales