Spermaceti
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A wax obtained from the head of sperm whales and used to make cosmetics, etc. uncountable
"Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state."
- 2 a white waxy substance from oil of the sperm whale wordnet
Example
More examples"Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state."
Etymology
From Latin sperma (“sperm”) + Latin cētī (“of the whale”, genitive of cētus).
Related phrases
More for "spermaceti"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.