whalebone

W4H4A1L1E1B3O1N1E1

noun

The horny material from the fringed plates of the upper jaw of baleen whales that is used to filter plankton; once used as stays in corsets

Similar
baleen
UncommonScrabble 17
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounwhalebone (countable and uncountable, plural whalebones)

plural whalebones

  1. countableuncountableThe horny material from the fringed plates of the upper jaw of baleen whales that is used to filter plankton; once used as stays in corsets

    “You have probably never seen anything like this before, Mr. Toler. It is baleen, or if you prefer it, whalebone, taken from the mouth of the bowhead whale. It is used by the whale to filter its food.”

    1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 5, in The Subtle Minotaur

    Synonyms: baleen

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe horny material from the fringed plates of the upper jaw of baleen whales that is used to filter plankton; once used as stays in corsets

Similar
baleen

More synonyms by meaning

nouna horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets

Similar
baleen
Broader
horn
Also see
baleen

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From whale + bone.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian балена
  • балена (balena)horny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Dutch balein
  • baleinhorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Esperanto balenosto
  • balenostohorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
French fanon
  • fanonhorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
German Fischbein
  • Fischbeinhorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Italian fanone
  • fanonehorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Polish fiszbin
  • fiszbinhorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Russian кито́вый ус
  • кито́вый ус (kitóvyj us)horny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Spanish ballena
  • ballenahorny material from fringed plates of upper jaw of baleen whale
Cite this entry
APA

whalebone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whalebone

MLA

“whalebone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whalebone. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whalebone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whalebone.

Source: whalebone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.