the.com/blue whale

means The largest animal known to have ever lived, a marine mammal that can grow past 90 feet and feeds almost entirely on tiny shrimp-like krill.

from Straightforward English compound naming the animal by its color — the mottled blue-grey skin that shows especially underwater — paired with 'whale,' itself from Old English 'hwæl,' a very old Germanic word for large sea creatures. The scientific name Balaenoptera musculus adds a sly twist: 'musculus' is Latin for 'little mouse,' a joke (often credited to Linnaeus) applied to the biggest animal on Earth.