Etymology
Uncertain . Probably from Spanish or Portuguese alcatraz ( “ pelican, gannet, albatross ” ) , probably derived from Arabic الْغَطَّاس ( al-ḡaṭṭās , “ the diver ” ) (compare Alcatraz ); or from Portuguese alcatruz ( “ water wheel bucket ” ) , from Arabic الْقَادُوس ( al-qādūs ) , from Ancient Greek κάδος ( kádos , “ pail , jar ” ) , in reference to the pouch of a pelican.[1] In either case, altered under the influence of Latin albus ( “ white ” ) . Not derived from modern Arabic قَطْرَس ( qaṭras , “ albatross ” ) , which is perhaps borrowed from Spanish.
For sense development of "burden", see albatross around one’s neck .
Pronunciation
An albatross (bird).
Noun
albatross (plural albatross or albatrosses )
Any of various large seabirds of the family Diomedeidae ranging widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific and having a hooked beak and long narrow wings.
Any of various African and Asian pierid butterflies of the genus Appias . Some species of this genus are also known as puffins .
( golf ) A double eagle , or three under par on any one hole, except a par 3 hole.
( figurative ) A long-term impediment , burden , or curse .
2006 March 13, Richard Lugar , speech to the Brookings Institution ,
[ … ] energy is the albatross of U.S. national security.
2024 August 9, Tia Yang, Nathaniel Rakich, Mary Radcliffe, Cooper Burton, “Americans don't like Project 2025”, in ABC News , archived from the original on 10 August 2024 :Project 2025 could be an albatross for Trump
Synonym: albatross around one's neck
Translations
seabird
Arabic: قَطْرَس (ar) m ( qaṭras )
Armenian: ալբատրոս (hy) ( albatros )
Bulgarian: албатрос (bg) ( albatros )
Catalan: albatros (ca) m
Cebuano: albatros
Chinese:
Mandarin: 信天翁 (zh) ( xìntiānwēng )
Chukchi: ӄаӄытъэӄ ( qaqytʺėq ) , ӄаӄытъэӄыт pl ( qaqytʺėqyt )
Crimean Tatar: furtuna quşu
Czech: albatros (cs) m
Danish: albatros c
Dutch: albatros (nl) m
Esperanto: albatroso
Estonian: albatross (et)
Faroese: súlukongur m
Finnish: albatrossi (fi)
French: albatros (fr) m
Galician: albatros m
German: Albatros (de) m
Greek: άλμπατρος (el) n ( álmpatros )
Hindi: महासामुद्र ( mahāsāmudra )
Hungarian: albatrosz (hu)
Icelandic: súlukóngur m , stormfugl (is) m
Indonesian: albatros (id)
Irish: albatras m
Italian: albatro (it) m , albatros (it) m
Japanese: 信天翁 (ja) ( あほうどり, ahōdori ) , アホウドリ (ja) ( ahōdori )
Korean: 신천옹(信天翁) (ko) ( sincheonong ) , 알바트로스 ( albateuroseu )
Latin: diomedea f
Malay: albatros
Maltese: albatros m , albatrosa f
Maori: toroa
Navajo: tónteel tsídiitsoh
Norwegian:
Bokmål: albatross (no) m
Nynorsk: albatross (no) m
Polish: albatros (pl) m
Portuguese: albatroz (pt)
Romanian: albatros (ro) m
Russian: альбатро́с (ru) m ( alʹbatrós )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: албатрос m , бурница f
Roman: albatros (sh) m , burnica (sh) f
Slovene: albatros (sl) m
Spanish: albatros (es) m
Swedish: albatross (sv) c
Tagalog: albatros
Turkish: albatros (tr)
Welsh: albatros f , gwas y weilgi m
Yup'ik: yaarcaq