Whale
noun
The kanji and the word are exactly the same. That means they share meanings as well.
くじら
Since this word is made up of a single kanji, it probably uses the kun'yomi reading. You did not learn this reading, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
A whale is actually gojira's (godzilla) cool cousin kujira (くじら). Godzilla mutated from a whale, so they're still related. That's where he gets his name from!
鯨のベーコンを食べました。
I ate whale bacon.