Aldebaran

noun

Al·​deb·​a·​ran al-ˈde-bə-rən 

: a red star of the first magnitude that is seen in the eye of Taurus and is the brightest star in the Hyades

Examples of Aldebaran in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Head outside tonight and drink in the sight of the Pleiades open star cluster glistening close to the red star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus, before the mesmerizing naked-eye jewel slips out of view with the changing of the seasons. — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 24 Mar. 2026

Jupiter Jupiter treks beyond Aldebaran and the Hyades in March, appearing more than 2/3 of the way up in the southern sky at dusk on March 1 and still halfway up in the west at dusk on March 31. — Joe Rao, Space.com, 2 Mar. 2026

To the right of Orion will be the red light of Aldebaran, the star which marks the eye of the great bull in the constellation Taurus. — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 17 Feb. 2026

Other bright stars on the ecliptic include Spica, Aldebaran and Antares, all of which are occasionally occulted by the moon. — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 2 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin, borrowed from Arabic al-dabarān, probably a name for the Hyades star cluster

Note: Arabic usage is not uniform in regard to whether al-dabarān is to be interpreted as the star α Tauri, or the entire Hyades star cluster, though the phrase in the Almagest, translating Ptolemy's Greek text, suggests the latter. Arabic authors took dabarān as a derivative of the root d-b-r, with meanings related to "back" (hence dabarī "trailing behind"), on the grounds that the Hyades, along with α Tauri, trailed behind or followed the Pleiades. This has the appearance of an after-the-fact etymology, however, and dabarān may be a pre-Islamic name for the cluster, of unknown origin. See Paul Kunitzsch, Arabische Sternnamen in Europa (Wiesbaden, 1959) pp. 109-10.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

Aldebaran

noun

Al·​deb·​a·​ran al-ˈdeb-ə-rən 

: a very bright red star in Taurus