albino

American  

[al-bahy-noh, -bee-] / ælˈbaɪ noʊ, -ˈbi- /

noun

• albinos
  plural

1. a person with pale skin, light hair, pinkish eyes, and visual abnormalities resulting from a hereditary inability to produce the pigment melanin.

2. an animal or plant with a marked deficiency in pigmentation.

3. Philately. an embossed stamp accidentally left without ink.

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albino British  

/ ˌælbɪˈnɒtɪk, ælˈbiːnəʊ, ælˈbɪnɪk, ˈælbɪˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. a person with congenital absence of pigmentation in the skin, eyes, and hair

2. any animal or plant that is deficient in pigment

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albino Scientific  

/ ăl-bī′nō /

1. An organism lacking normal pigmentation or coloration. Animals that are albinos lack pigmentation due to a congenital absence of melanin. In humans and other mammals, albinos have white hair, pale skin, and usually pinkish eyes. Plants that are albinos lack normal amounts of chlorophyll or other pigments.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• albinism
  noun
• albinal
  adjective
• albinic
  adjective
• albinotic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• albinos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of albino

1770–80; < Portuguese, equivalent to alb ( o ) white (< Latin albus ) + -ino -ine ¹

Explanation

An albino is someone who is born with an absence of skin and hair pigmentation. This usually results in an albino having pale hair, eyes, and skin. Some people who are considered to be albinos find the term offensive, although there are many different opinions about this in the community. For most people with albinism — or lack of pigmentation — if the word albino is used respectfully, it's perfectly acceptable. The disorder is genetic, and it can affect just the eyes, or the eyes and the skin. The word albino has a Latin root, albus, or "white."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

albino albinos

Locals have claimed that rare albino deer, great crested newts and badgers all roamed the field prior to it being built on.

From BBC ● May 9, 2026

A sad farewell to Claude, the albino alligator.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 20, 2026

Claude, a rare albino alligator whose ghostly white scales and statue-like stillness earned him a cult-like following around the world, died Tuesday, according to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025

Claude turned 30 this month, making him one of the oldest albino alligators.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2025

I was so blond that people thought I was an albino, and had such thin hair that my scalp sunburned easily.

From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

Where albinos have a complete loss of pigment and red or pink eyes, leucistic alligators are white with some areas of normally colored skin and have blue eyes.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 7, 2023

These bison lack the red eyes and pink nose of true albinos.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2023

The high temperatures are especially risky for people like teenage sisters Matilde and Angelica Aureli from Rome, who during extreme heat can only venture outside after 9 p.m. because they are albinos.

From Reuters ● Jul. 17, 2023

While leucistic creatures don’t have the same red or pink eyes as albinos, they also end up with lighter-colored features.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 18, 2023

Perhaps it has been wiped out by this time by wider marriages, though these might be effected with greater difficulty by albinos than by six-fingered persons.

From Science and Morals and Other Essays by Sir Bertram Coghill Alan Windle