killer whale

English

Wikispecies

Killer whales (orcas) jumping

Etymology

Calque or mistranslation of Spanish asesina-ballenas (“whale killer”), referring to their tendency to hunt whales.

Noun

killer whale (plural killer whales)

1. A sea mammal related to dolphins and porpoises (Orcinus orca).
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Of this whale, little is known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage - a sort of Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip and hangs there like a leech until the mighty brute is worried to death. The killer is never hunted. I have never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name of this whale, on the grounds of its indistinctness. For we are all killers on land and on sea; Bonaparts and sharks included.

Usage notes

Some prefer the term orca, as "killer whale" can be perceived as a loaded term.

Synonyms

• (sea mammal): Orcinus orca, orca

Derived terms

• false killer whale

Translations

a sea mammal, Orcinus orca — see also orca

• Ainu: カムイフㇺベ (kamuihumbe)
• Aleut: aglux̂
• Alutiiq: aqɫuk
• Arabic: حُوت قَاتِل m (ḥūt qātil)
• Asturian: orca (ast), esperlón (ast)
• Bulgarian: косатка (bg) f (kosatka)
• Catalan: orca (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᏗᏓᎯᎯ ᏓᏆ (didahihi daqua)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 殺人鯨／杀人鲸 (saat³ jan⁴ king⁴)

  Mandarin: 逆戟鯨／逆戟鲸 (zh) (nìjǐjīng), 虎鯨／虎鲸 (zh) (hǔjīng), 殺人鯨／杀人鲸 (zh) (shārénjīng)

• Czech: kosatka (cs) f
• Danish: spækhugger (da) c
• Dutch: orka (nl) m, zwaardwalvis (nl) m
• Esperanto: orcino, orko
• Estonian: mõõkvaal (et)
• Faroese: æðuhvalur m
• Finnish: miekkavalas (fi)
• French: épaulard (fr) m, orque (fr) f
• Galician: candorca (gl) f, alcandorca (gl) f
• German: Schwertwal (de) m, Killerwal (de) m, Mörderwal m, Speckhauer
• Greek: όρκα (el) f (órka)
• Greenlandic: aarluk (kl)
• Guaraní: pirachuguasu
• Hawaiian: ʻālaluka
• Hebrew: לוויתן קטלן m (livyatan katlan)
• Hungarian: kardszárnyú delfin (hu), orka (hu), gyilkos bálna
• Icelandic: háhyrningur (is) m, vagnhvalr
• Ido: orko
• Indonesian: paus pembunuh
• Inupiaq: aaġlu
• Italian: orca (it) f
• Japanese: さかまた (sakamata), 鯱 (ja) (しゃち, shachi)
• Kazakh: косатка (kosatka)
• Korean: 범고래 (ko) (beomgorae)
• Lithuanian: Orka
• Lutshootseed: qal'qaləχʷič
• Maori: maki, kākahi
• Neapolitan: ncroja f
• Northern Sami: fahkon
• Norwegian: spekkhogger m, spekkhugger (no) m, staurkval, staurhval, vagnhval
• Norwegian Nynorsk: spekkhoggar (nn), staurkval, vagn
• Old Norse: vagna f, vögn f
• Persian: نهنگ قاتل (nahang-e qâtel)
• Polish: orka (pl) f
• Portuguese: baleia-assassina f, orca (pt) f
• Russian: коса́тка (ru) f (kosátka), каса́тка (ru) f (kasátka), кит-уби́йца m (kit-ubíjca)
• Scottish Gaelic: mada-chuain m, cana (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: kit ubojica m, orka f
• Seri: tacj queemtax
• Spanish: orca (es) f
• Swedish: späckhuggare (sv) c
• Tagalog: orka
• Tamil: திமிஙகளம் (timiṅakaḷam)
• Thai: วาฬเพชฌฆาต (waan-pét-chá-kâat)
• Tibetan: སྟག་ཆུ་སྲིན (stag chu srin)
• Tlingit: kéet
• Turkish: katil balina, orka
• Vietnamese: cá voi sát thủ (vi) (𩵜㺔殺手)
• Yup'ik: arlluk

See also

• Wikipedia article on the common names of orcas