narwhal

Also narwal,

[nahr-wuhl]

noun

1. a small Arctic whale, Monodon monoceros, the male of which has a long, spirally twisted tusk extending forward from the upper jaw.

narwhal

/ ˈnɑːˌweɪl, ˈnɑːwəl /

noun

1. an arctic toothed whale, Monodon monoceros, having a black-spotted whitish skin and, in the male, a long spiral tusk: family Monodontidae

Other Word Forms

• narwhalian adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of narwhal¹

First recorded in 1650–60; from Scandinavian; compare Norwegian, Swedish, Danish nar(h)val, reshaped from Old Norse nāhvalr, equivalent to nār “corpse” + hvalr whale ¹; allegedly so called because its skin resembles that of a human corpse

Word History and Origins

Origin of narwhal¹

C17: of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish, Norwegian narhval, from Old Norse nāhvalr, from nār corpse + hvalr whale, from its white colour, supposed to resemble a human corpse

Example Sentences

Another explorer, Martin Nweeia, a dental surgeon, discovered that a narwhal’s tusk, whose purpose was a mystery to scientists, is actually a sensory rod that helps it measure salinity, temperature and water pressure.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There’s the narwhal, which mates “in a kind of ballet; a pair will swim alongside each other for hours, skins touching.”

Read more on Salon

In seven years on The Times’s National Desk, I wrote about everything from natural disasters to narwhals.

Read more on New York Times

Menopause is known to exist in five species of toothed whale: short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, killer whales, narwhals and beluga whales.

Read more on Science Daily

They found females of five "menopausal" species - narwhals and beluga, short-finned pilot, false killer and killer whales - lived about four decades longer than other toothed whales.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• mammal 
• porpoise