right whale
English
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right whale
Where it comes from
From right + whale, but the sense of right in the name is unknown.
sense of right
The commonly given etymology based on these whales being for various reasons the "right" whales to hunt (e.g. easy to hunt and docile) is questionable but highly plausible and therefore not necessarily a folk etymology, as Eric Jay Dolin writes in 2007 in his history of American whaling: The earliest references to the right whale offer no indication why it was called that, and some who have studied the issue point out that the word "right" in this context might just as likely be intended "to connote 'true' or 'proper,' meaning typical of the group." The scientific name of the whale's genus is Eubalaena, which means "good or true whales".
noun right whales
- Any baleen whale of the genus Eubalaena. It is said (in what may be an apocryphal story) that around 1712, a Nantucket captain named Christopher Hussey was blown offshore while hunting right whales, and came upon a school of large, bluff-headed whales with forward-angled spouts.
Translations
Every language
noun Eubalaena
| Español | ballena franca |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 露脊鯨 /露脊鲸 lùjǐjīng |
| Português | baleia-franca |
| Français | baleine franche |
| Русский | ю́жный кит júžnyj kit |
Talk about this word "right whale." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/right%20whale. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. right whale. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/right%20whale "right whale." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/right%20whale.Cite this
@misc{right_whale_2026,
title = {right whale},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/right%20whale},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
