Word.ws English Dictionary

minke

/ˈmɪŋki/

minke is the ellipsis of minke whale.

Meaning of minke whale

Noun

minke whale (plural minke whales)

  1. Either of two baleen whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata and Balaenoptera bonaerensis, found in coastal waters.
    Synonyms:
    minke, piked whale, lesser rorqual

Forms of minke

pluralminkes

Origin of minke

From Norwegian minkehval, allegedly after a crew member of the Norwegian whaling pioneer Svend Foyn (1809–1894), named Meincke, who mistook a pod of minkes for blue whales.

Phrases with minke

Words that rhyme with minke

18 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about minke

What is minke the ellipsis of?
Minke is the ellipsis of minke whale.
How do you pronounce minke?
Minke is pronounced /ˈmɪŋki/.

Words near minke in the dictionary

  1. mink coat
  2. mink coats
  3. mink frog
  4. mink frogs
  5. mink oil
  6. minke
  7. minke whale
  8. minke whales
  9. minked
  10. minkeries
  11. minkery

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: minke (page history and authors); minke whale (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.

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Cite this entry: “minke.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/minke. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.