mysticete

[ mis-tuh-seet ]

nounZoology.
  1. any whale of the suborder Mysticeti, as finback and humpback whales, characterized by a symmetrical skull, paired blowholes, and rows of baleen plates for feeding on plankton.

Origin of mysticete

1
1825–35; <New Latin Mysticeti, plural of Mysticetus<Greek mystíkētos or mŷs tò kêtos whalebone whale, literally, mouse-whale (term used in extant texts of Aristotle, perhaps a corruption of *mystakókētos mustache-whale; see mustachio, cet-)

Words Nearby mysticete

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mysticete in a sentence

  • That was why the mysticete we had killed the day before did not start to drag the Scarboro toward the school.

    Swept Out to Sea | W. Bertram Foster