narwhal

narwhal

English

WOTD – 1 February 2011

A drawing of a narwhal

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• narwal, narwhale

Etymology

From Dutch narwal or Danish/Norwegian Bokmål narhval, from Old Norse náhvalr, from nár (“corpse”) + hvalr (“whale”). Compare Icelandic náhvalur.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑːʍəl/, /ˈnɑːwəl/, /ˈnɑːˌʍeɪl/, /ˈnɑːˌweɪl/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑɹʍəl/, /ˈnɑɹwəl/, /ˈnɑɹˌʍeɪl/, /ˈnɑɹˌweɪl/, /ˈnɑɹʍɔl/, /ˈnɑɹwɔl/, /ˈnɑɹʍɑl/, /ˈnɑɹwɑl/

Noun

narwhal (plural narwhals or narwhal)

1. Monodon monoceros, an Arctic cetacean that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed canine tooth that projects forward.
   • 1986, D. E. Sergeant, “Chapter 16: Sea Mammals”, in I. P. Martini, editor, Canadian Inland Seas‎, page 337:

     Moreover, both narwhals and bowheads can occur in late summer in southern Prince Regent Inlet (coming from Lancaster Sound) and may reach Fury and Hecla Strait and northern Foxe Basin.

   • 1988, Tristan Jones, Somewheres East of Suez‎:

     Often, in the morning, narwhals played around the boat and reminded me of the dolphins, so far away in the North Atlantic. But these narwhals were not like the Atlantic sea-dogs; they had little of their flashing vibrancy; these Turkish narwhals were much more relaxed, and rolled over lazily, with a sigh, as if they were going to retire to a sofa and smoke a hookah.

   • 2000, Richard C. Connor, Andrew J. Read, Richard Wrangham, Janet Mann, editor, Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales‎, 10: Male Reproductive Strategies and Social Bonds, page 247:

     At over 2.5 m in length, the tusk of the male narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is one the most impressive instruments of male-male competition among mammals.

   Synonym: sea unicorn

Derived terms

• narluga

 

Translations

Arctic cetacean

Afrikaans: narwal Albanian: narvali m Arabic: حريش البحر‎ m (ḥarīš abaḥr) Armenian: միաժանի (miažani) Azerbaijani: narval Basque: narbal Belarusian: нарвал m (narval), аднарог m (adnaróh) Breton: narwal m Bulgarian: нарвал (bg) m (narval) Catalan: narval (ca) m Cherokee: ᎤᏲᎾ ᏓᏆ (uyona daqua) Chinese: Mandarin: 獨角鯨／独角鲸 (zh) (dújiǎojīng), 一角鯨／一角鲸 (yījiǎojīng), 角鯨／角鲸 (jiǎojīng), 長槍鯨／长枪鲸 (chángqiāngjīng) Czech: narval (cs) m Danish: narhval (da) c Dutch: narwal (nl) m Esperanto: narvalo Estonian: narval (et) Faroese: náhvalur m Finnish: sarvivalas (fi) French: narval (fr) m, licorne de mer (fr) f Georgian: მარტოკბილა (marṭoḳbila) German: Narwal (de) m Greek: φάλαινα νάρβαλ f (fálaina nárval) Greenlandic: qilalugaq qernertaq Hebrew: חַדְשָׁן חַדקֶרֶן‎ m (khadshén khadkéren) Hungarian: narvál Icelandic: náhvalur (is) m Ido: narvalo (io) Inuktitut: ᑑᒑᓕᒃ (toocaalik) Irish: narbhal m Italian: narvalo (it) m Japanese: 一角 (ja) (イッカク, ikkaku), イッカク (ja) (ikkaku) Kazakh: сытқы (sytqy) Korean: 일각고래 (ko) (ilgakgorae) Latvian: narvalis m Lithuanian: narvalas m Lombard: narval m Macedonian: нарвал m (narval) Manx: whale feeacklagh m, narwhal m Norwegian: Bokmål: narhval (no) m Nynorsk: narkval m Occitan: narval m Old English: nēohwæl m Persian: ناروال‎ (nārvāl), ختو‎ (xotu) Polish: narwal (pl) m, jednorożec (pl) m Portuguese: narval (pt) m Romanian: narval (ro) m Russian: нарва́л (ru) m (narvál), единоро́г (ru) m (jedinoróg) Scottish Gaelic: muc-mhara adharcach f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: на̀рвал m, је̏днорог m Roman: nàrval (sh) m, jȅdnorog (sh) m Slovak: narval m Slovene: narval m, enorog m, samorog (sl) m Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: narwal m Upper Sorbian: narwal m Spanish: narval (es) m Swedish: narval (sv) c Thai: นาร์วาล (naa-waan) Turkish: narval (tr), deniz gergedanı Ukrainian: нарва́л m (narvál) Uzbek: Cyrillic: нарвал (uz) (narval) Roman: narval Vietnamese: kì lân biển (麒麟𣷭) Welsh: môr-ungorn m, morfil ungorn m

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Manx

Etymology

From English narwhal, from Old Norse náhvalr.

Noun

narwhal m (genitive singular narwhal)

1. narwhal

   Synonym: whale feeacklagh