Whalesmen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Sailors who serve aboard vessels that hunt and kill whales for their oil, blubber and bone
2. Crew members who work on ships engaged in the hunting of whales for commercial purposes
3. Men employed at sea on whaling voyages, crewing the boats that pursue and harpoon whales

Etymology: "Whalesmen" is the plural of "whalesman," a compound built from "whales," the plural of "whale," and "-man," the common English word for a person who works at or belongs to a particular trade or activity. A whalesman is therefore simply a man who hunts or works on whaling ships, and the plural names a group of such workers. The pattern is an ordinary one in English: "fisherman," "seaman," and "sportsman" follow the same model, joining a noun for the activity or object to "man" for the person engaged in it. Because "whale" itself goes back to Old English "hwæl," the plural "whales" simply attaches to the compound, so the word's parts are all native English material rather than borrowings.