Meaning & use
baleen
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Meanings
noununcountablebiology
The stiff, fringed plates hanging inside the mouth of certain whales that trap small sea creatures as water is pushed out.
Grammar: Usually uncountable; also used before a noun: a baleen whale.
Patterns
- baleen whale
- baleen plates
Baleen works like a giant sieve, catching tiny shrimp while the water streams out.
A humpback whale has rows of baleen instead of teeth.
Museums display baleen so visitors can feel its stiff, hairlike edges.
noununcountableold-fashioned
The flexible material from these plates, once widely used to make corset stays, umbrella ribs and similar objects.
Grammar: Uncountable and mostly historical: corsets stiffened with baleen.
Patterns
- made of baleen
- stiffened with baleen
Victorian corsets were often stiffened with strips of baleen.
The old umbrella had ribs made from baleen.
Whalers sold baleen as well as oil.
Common combinations
- baleen whale
- The blue whale is the largest baleen whale in the world.
- baleen plates
- Baleen plates hang from the upper jaw like a thick curtain.
- filter with baleen
- These whales filter krill with baleen.
- strips of baleen
- Strips of baleen were once sold for making corsets.
- baleen basket
- Some Arctic artists weave a baleen basket as a traditional craft.
Synonyms and how they differ
- filter
- Filter names what the baleen does, but it is a general word and not the specific whale anatomy.
- sieve
- Sieve is a useful comparison for how baleen works, but it is a kitchen tool and not an animal part.
- whalebone
- Whalebone is an older, popular name for baleen, though the material is not actually bone.
Word family
- baleen whale noun
- a whale that filters food with baleen instead of having teeth
- mysticete noun
- the scientific name for a baleen whale
- keratin noun
- the protein that baleen is made of
- krill noun
- the tiny shrimp-like animals that many baleen whales eat
Commonly confused: baleen or whalebone?
baleen vs whalebone
Whalebone is a popular but misleading name for baleen, which is made of keratin like fingernails and is not bone at all.
Practice
A humpback whale feeds by pushing water through its ___ and swallowing the krill left behind.
Choose one answer.
Baleen plates trap small prey while water drains out. Tusks, blubber and flippers are real whale-related or animal words but do not filter food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “baleen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.