Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

gray whale

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.85 in modern English

Syllables
gray whale
IPA
19
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A baleen whale, Eschrichtius robustus, from the north Pacific

Etymology

Disputed. Either from the whale’s coloration, or after British zoologist John Edward Gray, who first recognized it as a distinct genus in 1864.

Inflected Forms

gray whales (plural) grey whale (alternative)

Synonyms

grayback whale grayback California gray whale Pacific gray whale Korean gray whale desert whale scrag whale ripsack mussel digger devilfish

Questions

What does gray whale mean?
A baleen whale, Eschrichtius robustus, from the north Pacific
Where does gray whale come from?
Disputed. Either from the whale’s coloration, or after British zoologist John Edward Gray, who first recognized it as a distinct genus in 1864.

How to pronounce gray whale

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “gray whale”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “gray whale”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “gray whale” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.