Wordwyrt

whaler

/ˈweɪlə/WAY-lur
/ˈweɪlɚ/WAY-lur

Meaningone who hunts whales

Common meaning: a whaling ship or sailor

Journey through time

  1. Old Englishhwæl‘whale’source
  2. Middle Englishwhalsource
  3. Englishwhale‘a very large sea mammal’
  4. Englishformed in English from whalewhaler‘a whaling ship or sailor’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from whale + -er.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), WHALE, p.704 · scan

Source words

  • hwæl Old English · source word “whale”

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