baleen
/bəˈliːn/
baleen noun: keratinous material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale (Mysticeti), which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry.
Noun
baleen (countable and uncountable, plural baleens)
- keratinous material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale (Mysticeti), which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry.
- “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:
- whalebone
- A baleen whale (Mysticeti).
- Scammon estimates the number of baleens killed in the years 1835-72 at 131,000; once again, his figure needs to be adjusted.2007, Lance E. Davis, In Pursuit of Leviathan: Technology, Institutions, Productivity, and Profits
- Any whale or large fish.
- The Balene is a fishe great and huge, much like to the Whale, and is so called, because of his outcasting and shedding of water, for they throwe water higher then other great fishes of the sea.1572, John Bossewell, Workes of Armorie
baleen meaning in Indonesian and Persian
baleen in Indonesian
- plates in mouth of baleen whale
- balin
baleen in Persian
- plates in mouth of baleen whale
- صفحه شانهای
Synonyms of baleen
Forms of baleen
| plural | baleens |
|---|
Origin of baleen
From Middle English baleyne, from Old French baleine (“whale, whalebone”), from Latin balaena (“whale”), from Ancient Greek φάλαινα (phálaina, “whale”).
Words formed from baleen
Phrases with baleen
Words that rhyme with baleen
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- glean
- between
- byzantine
- canteen
- greene
- preen
- Racine
- careen
- intervene
- lean
- wean
- Christine
- obscene
- routine
- skene
- spleen
- submarine
- cuisine
- gasoline
- irene
- red bean
- serene
- -ene
- demean
- eleventeen
- fascine
- gombeen
- latrine
- pristine
- Qazvin
- sheen
- tangerine
- unclean
- unseen
- vaccine
- amine
- aquamarine
- Beane
- beseen
- bottine
- chopine
- Enigma machine
- Eugene
- gene
- in between
- internecine
- jean
- lien
Questions about baleen
- What does baleen mean?
- Baleen means keratinous material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale (Mysticeti), which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry.
- What is baleen in Indonesian?
- Baleen in Indonesian is balin. See Baleen meaning in Indonesian.
- What part of speech is baleen?
- Baleen is a noun.
- How do you pronounce baleen?
- Baleen is pronounced /bəˈliːn/.
- What is the plural of baleen?
- The plural of baleen is baleens.
Words near baleen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: baleen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-baleen.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Ʒødəlabiskɔt-baleen.wav.
Cite this entry: “baleen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/baleen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.