Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Admiral” come from?

Admiral comes from Middle English admiral, from Old French amirail, from Arabic أَمِير الْبَحْر (amīr al-baḥr), meaning "commander of the sea."

Admiral (English): A naval officer title

Definitions

  1. A naval officer title

Ancestry of “Admiral”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishadmiral—
2Old Frenchamiraladmiral
3Latinamiralis—
4Latin-ālis—
5Proto-Italic-ālis—
Every word from Proto-Italic -ālis →