Meanings
plural right whales
- Any baleen whale of the genus Eubalaena.First known use 18th c.
The previous night, they’d received a call from the federal Department of Oceans and Fisheries (DFO): a right whale was tangled up in crab trap lines near their location.
2018 June 20, Chelsea Murray, The Guardian1 more example
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.
1996, Richard Ellis, Deep Atlantic: Life, Death, and Exploration in the Abyss, page 305
Origin
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".
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan balena franca
- balena francaEubalaena
Chinese Mandarin 露脊鯨 /露脊鲸
- 露脊鯨 /露脊鲸 (lùjǐjīng)Eubalaena
Finnish silovalas, grönlanninvalas
- silovalasEubalaena
- grönlanninvalasEubalaena
- mustavalasEubalaena
French baleine franche
- baleine francheEubalaena
Māori tohorā, kewa
- tohorāEubalaena
- kewaEubalaena
Polish waleń
- waleńEubalaena
Portuguese baleia-franca
- baleia-francaEubalaena
Russian ю́жный кит
- ю́жный кит (júžnyj kit)Eubalaena
Spanish ballena franca
- ballena francaEubalaena
Cite this entry
right whale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/right%20whale
“right whale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/right%20whale. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “right whale,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/right%20whale.
Source: right whale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.