Word.ws English Dictionary

vaquita

Syllables: va·qui·ta/vəˈkiːtə/

vaquita noun: a critically endangered porpoise, the smallest of its kind, of species Phocoena sinus, endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California, Mexico.

vaquita: a critically endangered porpoise, the smallest of its kind, of species Phocoena sinus, endemic to...
Image: Paula Olson, NOAA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

vaquita (plural vaquitas)

  1. A critically endangered porpoise, the smallest of its kind, of species Phocoena sinus, endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California, Mexico.
    • THE world’s smallest porpoise may have a fighting chance. The vaquita might be saved from extinction by an agreement at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Portoroz, Slovenia, last week.
    • Unique to the Gulf of California, the vaquita has seen its numbers collapse to 59 in 2015.2015 November 5, “Whale of a deal”, in New Scientist, number 3098, page 6
    Synonyms:
    cochito, desert porpoise, Gulf of California harbor porpoise, Gulf of California porpoise, gulf porpoise, vaquita marina, vaquita porpoise

Synonyms of vaquita

  • cochito
  • desert porpoise
  • Gulf of California harbor porpoise
  • Gulf of California porpoise
  • gulf porpoise
  • vaquita marina
  • vaquita porpoise

All synonyms of vaquita

Forms of vaquita

pluralvaquitas

Origin of vaquita

From Spanish vaquita (“little cow”), diminutive of vaca (“cow”).

Phrases with vaquita

Words that rhyme with vaquita

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about vaquita

What does vaquita mean?
Vaquita means a critically endangered porpoise, the smallest of its kind, of species Phocoena sinus, endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California, Mexico.
What part of speech is vaquita?
Vaquita is a noun.
How do you pronounce vaquita?
Vaquita is pronounced /vəˈkiːtə/.
What is the plural of vaquita?
The plural of vaquita is vaquitas.

Words near vaquita in the dictionary

  1. vaquero
  2. vaqueroes
  3. vaqueros
  4. Vaquez
  5. Vaquez disease
  6. vaquita
  7. vaquita marina
  8. vaquitas
  9. var
  10. var.
  11. vara

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vaquita (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:

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