cachalot

English

Etymology

From French cachalot, from Portuguese cachalote, from cachola (“big head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʃəlɒt/, /ˈkaʃələʊ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.ʃə.ˌlɑt/

Noun

cachalot (plural cachalots)

1. The sperm whale.
   • 2011, Richard Shelton, "Sheep, pig, whale", Times Literary Supplement, 22 Sep 2011:

     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.

Translations

sperm whale — see sperm whale

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French

Etymology

From Portuguese cachalote, from cachola (“big head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ʃa.lo/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cachalot m (plural cachalots)

1. sperm whale

Descendants

• → English: cachalot
• → Polish: kaszalot
• → Romanian: cașalot
• → Russian: кашало́т (kašalót) (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

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