albedo

Borrowed from Latin albēdō (“whiteness”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ælˈbi.doʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧be‧do

albedo (countable and uncountable, plural albedos or albedoes)

1. (physics, meteorology, astronomy, optics) The fraction of incident light or radiation reflected by a surface or body, commonly expressed as a percentage.
   • 2022 August 10, Gareth Dennis, “How can we run trains when the heat is on?”, in RAIL, number 963, page 45:

     For track, painting rails white at weak points that are more prone to buckling (where the 'critical rail temperature' is close to the 'stress free temperature' [...]) increases their albedo and can help slow how quickly they heat up, reducing their temperature by perhaps five degrees or so.

2. (botany) The whitish inner portion of the rind of citrus fruits that is a source of pectin, commonly referred to as the pith.
3. (alchemy) One of the four major stages of the magnum opus, involving purification of the prima materia.

   Synonym: leucosis

   Coordinate terms: nigredo, citrinitas, rubedo

Albedo is to be distinguished from reflectivity, which refers to one specific wavelength (monochromatic radiation).

• “albedo”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• Baldeo, beload, doable

Derived from Latin albēdō (“whiteness”).

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /alˈbedo/
• Rhymes: -edo
• Hyphenation: al‧be‧do

albedo (accusative singular albedon, plural albedoj, accusative plural albedojn)

1. (physics) albedo

Learned borrowing from Latin albēdō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑlbedo/, [ˈɑ̝lbe̞do̞]
• Rhymes: -ɑlbedo
• Syllabification^(key): al‧be‧do
• Hyphenation^(key): al‧be‧do

albedo

1. albedo

• “albedo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• albedine

Borrowed from Late Latin albēdō.

albedo f (invariable)

1. albedo (all senses)

• albedo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

From alb(us) (“white”) +‎ -ēdō (abstract noun suffix).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [aɫˈbeː.doː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [alˈbɛː.d̪o]

albēdō f (genitive albēdinis); third declension (Late Latin)

1. white (color)
2. whiteness

   Synonyms: albitūdō, albor, album

Third-declension noun.

• Italian: albedine
• Spanish: albédine
• → Catalan: albedo
• → English: albedo
  • → Japanese: アルベド (arubedo)
• Esperanto: albedo
• → French: albédo
  • → Romanian: albedo
• → German: Albedo
• → Italian: albedo
• → Polish: albedo
• → Portuguese: albedo
• → Russian: альбе́до (alʹbédo)
• → Spanish: albedo

• “albedo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• albedo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Learned borrowing from Latin albēdō.^[1][2] First attested in 1908.^[3][4]

• IPA^(key): /alˈbɛ.dɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdɔ
• Syllabification: al‧be‧do

albedo n (indeclinable)

1. (physics, meteorology, astronomy, optics) albedo (fraction of incident light or radiation reflected by a surface or body)

   niskie/małe albedo ― a low albedo

   wysokie albedo ― a high albedo

   ziemskie albedo/albedo Ziemi ― the albedo of the Earth

   albedo wynosi ileś ― an albedo reaches/is/amounts

   albedo neutronów ― the albedo of neutrons

   albedo powierzchni ― the albedo of a surface

   albedo planety ― the albedo of a planet

   albedo śniegu ― the albedo of a snow

   wartość albedo ― the value of an albedo

   wielkości albedo ― the magnitude of an albedo

2. (botany) albedo (part of citrus fruit rind)

• albedo in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Learned borrowing from Late Latin albēdō.

• Rhymes: -edu
• Hyphenation: al‧be‧do

albedo m (usually uncountable, plural albedos)

1. (physics, meteorology, astronomy, optics) albedo (the fraction of incident light or radiation reflected by a surface or body)

• “albedo”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “albedo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “albedo”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “albedo”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025

Borrowed from French albédo.

• IPA^(key): /alˈbe.do/

albedo n (uncountable)

1. albedo

• “albedo”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Borrowed from Latin albēdō.

• IPA^(key): /alˈbedo/ [alˈβ̞e.ð̞o]
• Rhymes: -edo
• Syllabification: al‧be‧do

albedo m (plural albedos)

1. (physics, meteorology, astronomy) albedo (the fraction of incident light or radiation reflected by a surface or body)

• “albedo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024