rorqual

Other forms of rorqual

plural

rorquals·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about rorqual

What does rorqual mean?

rorqual means "any of several baleen whales of the family Balaenopteridae having longitudinal grooves on the throat and a small pointed dorsal fin".

How many syllables are in rorqual?

rorqual has 2 syllables and divides as rorq-ual under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for rorqual?

Close synonyms include razorback. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is rorqual a common word?

rorqual is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.