Illustration of minke whale
minke whale
noun
min·ke whale ˈmiŋ-kə- 
variants or less commonly minke
: a small gray to black baleen whale (genus Balaenoptera) with a whitish underside and a relatively narrow, pointed snout:
a
: one (B. acutorostrata) chiefly of the northern hemisphere
called also common minke whale, northern minke whale
b
: one (B. bonaerensis) of the southern hemisphere that was formerly classified in the same species as the northern form
called also Antarctic minke, southern minke whale
see rorqual 
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Back in Kachemak Bay, the minke whale’s breach was followed by a lunch of halibut tacos for Herbst and his family, who were in Alaska for his mother’s 85th birthday. 
Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 24 July 2022 The minke whale is the smallest baleen whale in Alaska waters. Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 24 July 2022 To gauge how thorough this baleen record is, Riekenberg and a team of scientists in the Netherlands recently examined baleen from five whales: three juvenile fin whales, one adult humpback whale and a minke whale of undetermined age. Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 8 Dec. 2021 A few years earlier, in 2007, a young minke whale was spotted swimming near the mouth of the canal after a historic rainstorm. Bill Mckibben, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2021 London residents were transfixed when a juvenile minke whale swam up the Thames last week and was injured on a lock. James Hookway, WSJ, 16 May 2021 Interspersed between our expeditions (and pivotal to the routine) was the captain’s gentle voice, cutting off conversations to share the sighting of a humpback whale waving its fluke or a minke whale coyly nudging up against the bow. Danielle Bernabe, Fortune, 1 July 2020 The calls of minke whales, on the other hand, increased only marginally in the presence of loud noise. Katherine Kornei, Science | AAAS, 18 Feb. 2020 Whale-watching income far outweighs the income from hunting fin and minke whales. Joe Roman, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2020 See More
Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 24 July 2022 The minke whale is the smallest baleen whale in Alaska waters. Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 24 July 2022 To gauge how thorough this baleen record is, Riekenberg and a team of scientists in the Netherlands recently examined baleen from five whales: three juvenile fin whales, one adult humpback whale and a minke whale of undetermined age. Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 8 Dec. 2021 A few years earlier, in 2007, a young minke whale was spotted swimming near the mouth of the canal after a historic rainstorm. Bill Mckibben, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2021 London residents were transfixed when a juvenile minke whale swam up the Thames last week and was injured on a lock. James Hookway, WSJ, 16 May 2021 Interspersed between our expeditions (and pivotal to the routine) was the captain’s gentle voice, cutting off conversations to share the sighting of a humpback whale waving its fluke or a minke whale coyly nudging up against the bow. Danielle Bernabe, Fortune, 1 July 2020 The calls of minke whales, on the other hand, increased only marginally in the presence of loud noise. Katherine Kornei, Science | AAAS, 18 Feb. 2020 Whale-watching income far outweighs the income from hunting fin and minke whales. Joe Roman, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2020 See More Word History
Etymology
partial translation of Norwegian minkehval, from minke- (perhaps from Meincke, a crewman of Svend Foyn †1894 Norwegian whaler) + hval whale
First Known Use
1939, in the meaning defined above