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admiral

 
Dictionary: ad·mi·ral   (ăd'mər-əl) pronunciation
 
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n.
  1. The commander in chief of a fleet.
  2. 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.
  4. Any of various brightly colored butterflies of the genera Limenitis and Vanessa.
  5. 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
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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
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Devil's Dictionary
A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce


n.

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

 
Wikipedia: Admiral
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)
For other uses, see Admiral (disambiguation).
Common military ranks
Officers
Navies Armies Air forces
Admiral of
the Fleet		 Field Marshal Marshal of
the Air Force
Admiral General Air Marshal
Commodore Brigadier Air Commodore
Captain Colonel Group Captain
Commander Lt. Colonel Wing Commander
Lt. Commander Major Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Captain Flight Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant Flying Officer
Ensign 2nd Lieutenant Pilot Officer
Midshipman Officer Cadet Officer Cadet
Seamen, soldiers and airmen
Warrant Officer Sergeant Major Warrant Officer
Petty Officer Sergeant Sergeant
Leading Rate Corporal Corporal
Seaman Private Aircraftman
Common Naval Ranks of the World
Flag Officers:

Admiral of the Fleet • Fleet Admiral
Admiral
Squadron Admiral • Squadron Vice-Admiral
Vice-Admiral
Rear Admiral
Commodore
Senior Officers:

Captain • Ship-of-the-Line Captain
Captain of Sea and War • Captain at Sea
Commander • Frigate Captain
Lieutenant-Commander • Corvette Captain
Junior Officers:

Lieutenant • Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant • Frigate Lieutenant
Ensign • Ship-of-the-Line Ensign
Corvette Lieutenant
Midshipman

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 above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM". Where relevant, Admiral is a 4 star rank.

Contents

History

The word Admiral in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral, "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis, "emir", admirallus, "admiral", from Arabic amir-al- أمير الـ, "commander of the" (as in amir-al-bahr أمير البحر "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 while in Portuguese the word changed to almirante. 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. However, this wasn't always the case; for example, in some European countries prior to the end of World War II, Admiral was the third highest naval rank behind General Admiral and Grand Admiral.

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 term 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.

Admiral insignia by country

Australian admiral
Royal Australian Navy

Canadian admiral
Canadian Forces Maritime Command

Chilean Admiral
Chilean Navy

Admiral of People's Republic of China
People's Liberation Army Navy

Danish admiral (Denmark)

French admiral
Marine Nationale

German admiral
Deutsche Marine

Italian admiral
Italian Navy

Mexican admiral
Mexican Navy

Polish admiral
Marynarka Wojenna

Romanian admiral
Forţele Navale Române

Spanish admiral
Armada Española

Ukrainian admiral
Ukrainian Navy

U.K. Admiral
Sleeve lace
Royal Navy

U.K. Admiral
Shoulder board
Royal Navy

U.S. Admiral
U.S. Navy

See also

References

  1. ^ Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
Translations: Admiral
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - admiral

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    storadmiral

Nederlands (Dutch)
admiraal, admiraalvlinder

Français (French)
n. - (Naut) amiral, (Zool) vanesse, paon-de-jour

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    amiral de la flotte, amiral de France

Deutsch (German)
n. - Admiral, Flaggschiff

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    Großadmiral

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ναυτ.) ναύαρχος

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    (ναυτ.) στόλαρχος

Italiano (Italian)
ammiraglio, nave ammiraglia

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    grande ammiraglio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - almirante (m), comandante (m) (Mil.)

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    Almirante da Frota
  • rear admiral    almirante de retaguarda (Mil.)

Русский (Russian)
адмирал, военный корабль

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    адмирал флота
  • rear admiral    высокий флотский чин

Español (Spanish)
n. - almirante, buque almirante

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    Capitán de la Armada

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - amiral

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
海军上将, 海军将官

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    海军元帅, 海军五星级上将

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 海軍上將, 海軍將官

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    海軍元帥, 海軍五星級上將

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 제독, 기함, 나비의 속칭

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 海軍大将, 海軍将官, 提督

idioms:

  • Admiral of the Fleet    海軍元帥

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أمير ألبحر, أميرال‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מפקד חיל-הים, אדמירל, סוג של פרפר‬

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Copyrights:

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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