narwhal
/ˈnɑːʍəl/US/ˈnɑɹʍəl/
narwhal noun: an Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid that projects forward.
Noun
narwhal (plural narwhals or narwhal)
- An Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid that projects forward.
- Moreover, both narwhals and bowheads can occur in late summer in southern Prince Regent Inlet (coming from Lancaster Sound) and may reach Fury and Hecla Strait and northern Foxe Basin.1986, D. E. Sergeant, “Chapter 16: Sea Mammals”, in I. P. Martini, editor, Canadian Inland Seas, page 337
- Often, in the morning, narwhals played around the boat and reminded me of the dolphins, so far away in the North Atlantic. But these narwhals were not like the Atlantic sea-dogs; they had little of their flashing vibrancy; these Turkish narwhals were much more relaxed, and rolled over lazily, with...1988, Tristan Jones, Somewheres East of Suez
- Synonyms:
- sea unicorn
narwhal meaning in Tamil, Arabic, Persian and Thai
narwhal in Tamil
- இதுவும் ஒரு சிற்றினம் ஆகும்
narwhal in Arabic
- Arctic cetacean
- حريش البحر ḥarīš abaḥr
narwhal in Persian
- Arctic cetacean
- ناروال nârvâl, ختو xotu
narwhal in Thai
- Arctic cetacean
- นาร์วาล naa-waan
More languagesFewer languages
- narwhal in Vietnamese
- kì lân biển
Examples of narwhal in a sentence
- Often, in the morning, narwhals played around the boat and reminded me of the dolphins, so far away in the North Atlantic.1988, Tristan Jones, Somewheres East of Suez:
- At over 2.5 m in length, the tusk of the male narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is one the most impressive instruments of male-male competition among mammals.2000, Richard C. Connor, Andrew J. Read, Richard Wrangham, edited by Janet Mann, Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales...
Synonyms of narwhal
Forms of narwhal
| plural | narwhals |
|---|---|
| plural | narwhal |
| alternative form | narwal |
| alternative form | narwhale |
Origin of narwhal
From Dutch narwal or Danish/Norwegian Bokmål narhval, from Old Norse náhvalr, from nár (“corpse”) + hvalr (“whale”). Compare Icelandic náhvalur.
Words formed from narwhal
Questions about narwhal
- What does narwhal mean?
- Narwhal means an Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid that projects forward.
- What is narwhal in Tamil?
- Narwhal in Tamil is இதுவும் ஒரு சிற்றினம் ஆகும். See Narwhal meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use narwhal in a sentence?
- Often, in the morning, narwhals played around the boat and reminded me of the dolphins, so far away in the North Atlantic.
- What part of speech is narwhal?
- Narwhal is a noun.
- How do you pronounce narwhal?
- Narwhal is pronounced /ˈnɑːʍəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of narwhal?
- The plural of narwhal is narwhals.
Words near narwhal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: narwhal (page history and authors); narwhal (Tamil Wiktionary) (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-narwhal.wav.
Cite this entry: “narwhal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/narwhal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.