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admiral

(ăd'mər-əl) pronunciation

The commander in chief of a fleet.
A flag officer.
1. (Abbr. ADM or Adm.) A commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard that is above vice admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet.
2. One who holds the rank of admiral, Admiral of the Fleet, rear admiral, or vice admiral.
Any of various brightly colored butterflies of the genera Limenitis and Vanessa.
Archaic. The ship carrying an admiral; flagship.

[Middle English amiral, admiral, from Old French and from Medieval Latin amīrālis, admīrālis, both from Arabic ’amīr al- …, commander of the … : ’amīr, commander + al-, the.]

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Marine Corps Dictionary: Admiral

The highest naval rank in peacetime (See Fleet Admiral). The rank insignia consists of four silver stars in a row. The admiral ranks did not appear in the U. S. Navy until the Civil War. Prior to that time a captain was the highest rank in that service. When placed in command of larger units he was sometimes designated a Flag Officer, but that was a billet, not a rank. The current admiral ranks (from junior to most senior) are: Rear Admiral (lower half), one star; Rear Admiral (upper half), two stars; Vice Admiral, three stars; Admiral, four stars and Fleet Admiral, five stars.

Devil's Dictionary: admiral

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

That part of a war-ship which does the talking while the figure-head does the thinking.

Wikipedia: admiral

Navies (English-speaking world)	Armies and some Air Forces	Air Forces (Commonwealth)
Common Military Ranks
Admiral of the Fleet	Field Marshal	Marshal of the Air Force
Admiral	General	Air Chief Marshal
Commodore	Brigadier	Air Commodore
Captain	Colonel	Group Captain
Commander	Lieutenant Colonel	Wing Commander
Lieutenant Commander	Major	Squadron Leader
Lieutenant	Captain	Flight Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant	Lieutenant	Flying Officer
Warrant Officer	Warrant Officer	Warrant Officer
Petty Officer	Sergeant	Sergeant
Leading Rate	Corporal	Corporal
Seaman	Private	Aircraftman

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral (equivalent to full general) and four-star rank above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral.

History

The word Admiral in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral, "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis, "emir", admirallus, "admiral", from Arabic amir-al-, "commander of the" (as in amir-al-bahr, "commander of the sea") [1]. Crusaders learned the term during their encounters with the Arabs, perhaps as early as the 11th century. The Sicilians and later Genoese took the first two parts of the term and used them as one word, amiral, from their Catalan opponents. The French and Spanish gave their sea commanders similar titles. As the word was used by people speaking Latin or Latin-based languages it gained the "d" and endured a series of different endings and spellings leading to the English spelling "admyrall" in the 14th century and to "admiral" by the 16th century.

The word Admiral has today come to be almost exclusively associated with the highest naval rank in most of the world's navies, equivalent to the Army rank of (Full) General.

The rank of Admiral has also been subdivided into various grades, several of which are historically extinct while others are used by most present day navies. The Royal Navy used colours (red, white, and blue, in descending order) to indicate the seniority of its admirals until 1864; for example, Horatio Nelson's highest rank was Vice Admiral of the White. The generic terms for these naval equivalents of army generals is Flag Officer. Some navies have also used army-type titles for them, such as the Cromwellian General at Sea or Germanic General Admiral. The Israeli Defence Forces do not have separate naval ranks, and the Hebrew rank Aluf denotes both a General and an Admiral.

Admiral ranks by country

Canadian admiral Canadian Forces Maritime Command	Chilean Admiral Chilean Navy	French admiral Marine Nationale	German admiral Deutsche Marine
Indian Navy	Italian admiral Italian Navy	Polish admiral Marynarka Wojenna	Romanian admiral Forţele Navale Române
Spanish admiral Armada Española	Swedish admiral (Sweden)	British admiral Royal Navy	US admiral US Navy)
Danish admiral (Denmark)	Ukrainian admiral Ukrainian Navy

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Marine Corps Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 "Unofficial Dictionary for Marines" compiled and edited by Glenn B. Knight Read more
		Devil's Dictionary. Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911 Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Admiral". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

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