right whale

English

North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) cow with calf

Etymology

From right + whale; from 1725.
The originally intended sense of right is unknown. Folk etymology states that, for various reasons, they were the "right" whales to hunt.

Noun

right whale (plural right whales)

  1. Any of certain baleen whales of the family Balaenidae, in the genera Eubalaena (three species) and Balaena (one species, the bowhead whale, also called the Greenland right whale).

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Further reading

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