Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person or animal lacking normal pigmentation, with the result being that the skin and hair are abnormally white or milky and the eyes have a pink or blue iris and a deep-red pupil.
  • noun A plant that lacks chlorophyll.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Mexico, a person who has one eighth negro and seven eighths Spanish blood; the child of a Morisco woman (who is the daughter of a mulatto mother and a Spanish father) and of a Spaniard.
  • noun A person of pale, milky complexion, with light hair and pink eyes.
  • noun Hence An animal characterized by the same peculiarity in physical constitution.
  • noun A plant the leaves of which are marked by the absence of chlorophyl, or whose flowers are exceptionally white. Seealbinism.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A person, whether negro, Indian, or white, in whom by some defect of organization the substance which gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes is deficient or in a morbid state. An albino has a skin of a milky hue, with hair of the same color, and eyes with deep red pupil and pink or blue iris. The term is also used of the lower animals, as white mice, elephants, etc.; and of plants in a whitish condition from the absence of chlorophyll.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective congenitally lacking melanin pigmentation in the skin, eyes, and hair or feathers (or more rarely only in the eyes); born with albinism
  • noun countable person or animal congenitally lacking melanin pigmentation in the skin, eyes, and hair or feathers (or more rarely only in the eyes); one born with albinism

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person with congenital albinism: white hair and milky skin; eyes are usually pink

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Ultimately (perhaps via Portuguese) from Spanish, from albo, white, from Latin albus; see albho- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Portuguese albino, diminutive of albo, from Latin albus ("white").

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  • In stamp collecting, an un-inked impression made by a printing plate. Such errors are scarce on stamps and more often found on postal stationery.

    August 25, 2008