Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “whalebone” come from?

Whalebone is a compound of English whale and bone, tracing whale to Old English hwæl and bone to Old English bān, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots.

whalebone (English): The horny material from the fringed plates of the...

Definitions

  1. The horny material from the fringed plates of the...

Ancestry of “whalebone”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishBône—
2Middle Englishbonbone
3Old Englishbānbone, tusk; the bone of a limb
4Arabicبانto separate, to become distinct, to sunder; to be...
5Ottoman Turkishبانban; keeper, tender, ward; ben tree, horseradish...
6Ottoman Turkishباڭ—
7Persianبنگhashish, narcotic made from "Cannabis sativa";...
8Middle Persian𐭡𐭭𐭢henbane

Words derived from “whalebone”

  • whaleboned
  • whaleboning
Every word from Middle Persian 𐭡𐭭𐭢 →