Amiral

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A high-ranking naval officer with command over a fleet of ships
2. A senior military position in a navy, often responsible for strategic decisions and operations
3. An official rank in naval hierarchy, typically above a vice admiral and below a fleet admiral

Etymology: The English "admiral" arrived by way of Arabic. The Arabic "amīr" means "commander" or "prince," and it appears in medieval Latin as "amiralis," a word that picked up the Latin adjective ending "-alis" (the source of our "-al"). Through Old French and Anglo-Norman it reached Middle English in forms like "amiral," and the title came to name the commander of a fleet. The word's Arabic origin is easy to lose sight of, and the title did not begin life as a naval one. Its first sense was a general military or political leader, so the sea came into it only as the word moved through Mediterranean trade and warfare. The "-al" ending is the same one found in words like "general" and "national," which is a useful clue that the word was built from a commander title plus a Latin-style adjective.

Synonyms: admiral, commander, fleet commander, naval officer, commodore

Antonyms: INVALID