sperm whale
4
3.7
- noun
- /spɜrm weɪl/
:
ballena esperma
- The sperm whale, like all marine mammals, must surface regularly to breathe.
- pod of sperm whales
- sperm whale skeleton
- great sperm whale
Examples
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After witnessing some two dozen attacks, we begin to wonder aloud why the sperm whales don't defend themselves.
Academic text (1998) -
Nothing but a sperm whale, though quite a big one, I admit.
Fiction book (1996) -
The largest known sperm whale is 85 feet in length.
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Exactly two years ago, a sperm whale was washed up on the beach of Koksijde in Belgium.
Fiction book (1994) -
Sperm whales can also dive for over an hour, much longer and much deeper than killer whales can.
Academic text (1998) -
We can see several black-and-white shapes beneath the water; the group is charging at the sperm whale from both sides.
Academic text (1998) -
Cruising through the sparkling watersof the Azores Islands, these sperm whales can reach 60 feetin length and weigh up to 45 tons.
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Sperm whales are known for their massive heads and can dive to great depths in search of sperm whale.
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While on a boat trip, we were lucky to see a sperm whale breaching the surface of the ocean.
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The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale and can weigh as much as 45 tons in adulthood.
Synonyms
A very large whale with a big head that dives deep to eat squid
A large whale with a square head that holds oil
A very large whale with a big head that contains waxy oil and sometimes produces ambergris
A very large whale like the sperm whale that has oil and ambergris in its head
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
sperm + whale
The compound is structurally transparent as a noun–noun composition (a kind/kind of whale), so the modifier indicates a property of the whale. However, the modifier 'sperm' here refers to spermaceti (a technical substance) rather than the common B1 meaning 'reproductive cell', so learners who only know the everyday sense of 'sperm' are likely to be confused and not infer the specific biological referent without prior exposure.
Etymology
The name sperm whale comes from a waxy oil found in the whale's very large head, once called 'spermaceti'. Early sailors thought this oil looked like sperm, so they named the animal the sperm whale, and that is why we still call it that today.