Denticeti

/ˌdɛntɪˈseɪtaɪ/ noun

Definition

A suborder of whales characterized by having teeth rather than baleen plates, including sperm whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

Etymology

From Latin 'dentis' (tooth) and 'ceti' (whales, plural of 'cete'). Scientific taxonomy term that groups all toothed whales together based on shared dental features.

Kelly Says

The classification of whales into denticeti (toothed) versus mysticeti (baleen) was one of the earliest ways scientists organized marine mammals—teeth became a simple but powerful way to sort whale species!

Related Words

Explore More Words

Get the Word Orb API

Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.