beluga
pronunciation
How to pronounce beluga in British English:
UK [bəˈlu:gə]
How to pronounce beluga in American English:
US [bəˈluɡə]
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- Noun:
- valuable source of caviar and isinglass; found in Black and Caspian seas
- small northern whale that is white when adult
Word Origin
- beluga (n.)
- 1590s, from Russian beluga, literally "great white," from belo- "white" (from PIE *bhel-o-, from root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn;" see bleach (v.)) + augmentative suffix -uga. Originally the great sturgeon, found in the Caspian and Black seas; later (1817) also the small white whale (Delphinapterus leucas) found in northern seas.
Example
- 1. Dolphins and beluga whales have been seen blowing bubble rings and swimming through them .
- 2. The alabaster beluga 's dark cousin , the narwhal is not a conventionally beautiful animal .
- 3. These remarkable pictures show how beluga whales help human visitors to swim under the thick ice .
- 4. Last of all came the beluga mattak , folded in bags , like fluffy white towels .
- 5. Decades later , keepers at the vancouver aquarium in canada described a beluga that seemed to utter his name , lagosi .