minke
pronunciation
How to pronounce minke in British English:
UK 
How to pronounce minke in American English:
US
Word Origin
- minke (n.)
- type of small whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), 1939, supposedly from the Norwegian surname Meincke. The name minke is said to have derived from one of Svend Foyn's crew by the name of Meincke, who mistook a school of these whales for blue whales. Whalers all over the world considered this incident so amusing that they used his name as a household word to describe this species. [J.N. Tønnessen & A.O. Johnsen, "The History of Modern Whaling" (transl. R.I. Christophersen), 1982] Also known in English as the lesser rorqual and little piked whale.
Example
- 1. This is a graph of the frequency of a minke 's cries against time .
- 2. The quota would allow the killing of 150 fin whales and more than 100 minke whales each year for five seasons .
- 3. Japanese studies showed that the numbers of antarctic minke in the southern hemisphere appeared to drop significantly between the 1980s and 1990s .
- 4. At the same time , the japanese would be allowed to take 120 minke whales commercially in its coastal waters - which is currently prohibited .
- 5. In the same period last year , japan killed 506 minke whales , well below its planned catch of around 850 .