minke

[ming-kee]

noun

1. a dark-colored baleen whale, Baleanoptera acutorostrata, inhabiting temperate and polar seas and growing to a length of 33 feet (10 meters): reduced in numbers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of minke¹

1930–35; < Norwegian minkehval, allegedly after a crew member of the Norwegian whaling pioneer Svend Foyn (1809–94), named Meincke, who mistook a pod of minkes for blue whales

Example Sentences

Other whale species include North Pacific gray whales, the North Atlantic right whale, minke, sperm, fin and bowhead whales.

From Los Angeles Times

The crew also find comfort in the wonders of the ocean - dolphins and flying fish, and one night an encounter with a pod of friendly minke whales, swimming in bio-luminescent water.

From BBC

A minke whale in Long Beach Harbor and a gray whale stranded on Huntington City Beach also succumbed to the outbreak.

From Los Angeles Times

The study, published in Scientific Reports, found a steep rise in strandings involving common dolphins and baleen whales - filter-feeding species that include minke and humpback whales.

From BBC

A minke whale in Long Beach Harbor and a gray whale that stranded in Huntington Beach also succumbed to the outbreak.

From Los Angeles Times