cachalot

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti

Proto-Italic *kapjō

Old Latin kapiō

Latin capiō

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-trom

Proto-Indo-European *-tlomder.

Latin -ulum

Latin capulum

Portuguese cacho

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -ulus

Latin -oluslbor.

Portuguese -ola

Portuguese cachola

Portuguese -ote

Portuguese cachalotebor.

French cachalotbor.

English cachalot

Borrowed from French cachalot, from Portuguese cachalote, from cachola (“head”) +‎ -ote.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʃəlɒt/, /ˈkaʃələʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.ʃəˌloʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cachalot (plural cachalots)

1. The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus.
   • 2011 September 22, Richard Shelton, “Sheep, pig, whale”, in Times Literary Supplement:

     A flexible rib cage facilitates the collapse of the lungs of a diving cachalot (a synonym derived from an old French word for tooth), so reducing the nitrogen uptake which is responsible for decompression sickness in diving humans, while high levels of haemoglobin in the blood and myoglobin in the skeletal muscles carry the oxygen required to sustain long periods between breaths.

Derived terms

• common cachalot

Translations

sperm whale — see sperm whale

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese cachalote, from cachola (“head”) +‎ -ote.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ʃa.lo/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

cachalot m (plural cachalots)

1. sperm whale

Descendants

• → English: cachalot
• → Polish: kaszalot
  • → Kashubian: kaszalot
• → Romanian: cașalot
• → Russian: кашало́т (kašalót)
  • → Armenian: կաշալոտ (kašalot)
  • → Kazakh: кашалот (kaşalot)
  • → Kyrgyz: кашалот (kaşalot)

Further reading

• “cachalot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012