Rorquals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of large baleen whales belonging to the family Balaenopteridae, characterized by their long, streamlined bodies and distinctive pleated throats
2. Oceanic mammals known for their immense size, rorquals are filter feeders using baleen plates to consume small fish and krill
3. These cetaceans are recognized for their massive length and the ability to dive deep, often displaying their pleated skin when feeding at the surface

Etymology: "Rorquals" is the plural of "rorqual," the name for the large baleen whales of the family that includes the blue, fin, and humpback-like rorquals. The singular comes from Norwegian Nynorsk "røyrkval," which in turn descends from Old Norse "reyðarhvalr," meaning "fin whale." The Old Norse compound joins "reyðr," a word for a roaring or bellowing sound, with "hvalr," "whale," so the name points to the noise these animals were thought to make. The Norse word was a sea-going name, and it reached English only through the Norwegian dialect form, which is why the spelling looks so unfamiliar. The English term keeps the original sense of a whale singled out by its roar, a reminder that whalers once named animals by how they sounded at sea rather than by their anatomy.

Synonyms: baleen whales