What does "bowhead" mean?

A large baleen whale, of species Balaena mysticetus, having a large, rounded head, that inhabits Arctic waters.

Bowhead

Common synonyms include: bowhead whale, arctic whale, balaena mysticetus, bowhead whale, greenland right whale, greenland whale.

//ˈbəʊhɛd// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A large baleen whale, of species Balaena mysticetus, having a large, rounded head, that inhabits Arctic waters.
2
large-mouthed Arctic whale wordnet

From bow + head.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.