A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1467 entries
baleen
The filtering and feeding apparatus of the great whale. Plates of keratin grow down from the upper jaw, frayed on the inner edge into a mat of bristles. A whale takes in water and prey together, closes up, and drives the water back out through the plates. It’s a gigantic strainer using the same material as your fingernails.
Etymology
Middle English balene, from Old French baleine, from Latin balaena, whale, itself borrowed from Greek phalaina. Whalebone is the older English term, but there’s no bone in it.
Notes
Baleen is springy and holds a shape when heated, and it did the work of plastic long before plastic existed. Corset stays, collar stiffeners, buggy whips, umbrella ribs, hoop skirts all used it.