albacore

noun

al·​ba·​core ˈal-bə-ˌkȯr 

variants or albacore tuna

plural albacore or albacores or albacore tuna or albacore tunas

1

: a large tuna (Thunnus alalunga) of temperate and subtropical oceans that has long pectoral fins, that is dark blue with a gray to silvery-white belly, that may reach a length of 50 inches (127 centimeters), and that is a source of canned tuna

Typically albacore are found between 40 to 80 miles offshore, but they can be even farther out depending on water surface temperatures.

—Luke Whittaker

With their streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies and high metabolisms, albacore tuna can swim at speeds upward of 30 mph …

—Dave Gershman and Ray Clarke

also : the flesh of albacore especially when canned for use as food

One cup of albacore, canned in water, will contain 5 grams of fat, of which 0.15 grams will be omega-3 fatty acids and 0.1 grams will be omega-6 fatty acids.

—Ed Blonz

2

: any of several tuna related to the albacore see also false albacore

Illustration of albacore

Examples of albacore in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Carolina gold rice and baby albacore were also serious standouts. —Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2025

On Terminal Island, more than 3,000 first- and second-generation immigrant fishermen from Japan, the issei and nisei, pioneered innovative techniques, like 6-foot bamboo poles and live bait, to catch albacore tuna and sardines. —Claire Wang, NBC news, 31 May 2025

Similarly, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends limiting albacore to six ounces per week. —Caroline Tien, SELF, 22 Apr. 2025

Meanwhile, albacore and yellowfin will fall somewhere in between. —Caroline Tien, SELF, 22 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from 16th-century Portuguese albaquora, albecora, of obscure origin

Note: Traditionally Portuguese and Spanish albacora and its Romance congeners have been taken as loans from an Arabic collocation al-bakūra "the albacore." The fish word would supposedly be derived from the Arabic root b-k-r, seen in bikr "first-born," bakr "young camel," on the assumption that it originally alluded to young tuna. As noted in the Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, the existence of such a word for the fish in Arabic, recorded only by a Spanish-speaking missionary to Morocco in the nineteenth century, is questionable. Oxford takes the earliest attestation of albacora in Romance to be Italian albacore (plural) in Antonio Pigafetta's Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo, dated "ante 1525"; note, however, that this word is apparently only attested in a single manuscript of the Relazione (Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, L 103 sup.), of uncertain date and relation to Pigafetta's original text, which has not survived. For further etymological speculation see the Oxford English Dictionary.

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing albacore

• false albacore

Rhymes for albacore

• alongshore
• antiwar
• anymore
• blastopore
• carnivore
• commodore
• dinosaur
• evermore
• furthermore
• guarantor
• herbivore
• heretofore

Kids Definition

albacore

noun

al·​ba·​core ˈal-bə-ˌkō(ə)r 

-ˌkȯ(ə)r

plural albacore or albacores

: a large tuna with long pectoral fins that is the source of most canned tuna