Illustration of quetzal
- quetzal 1
plural quetzals also quetzales
ket-ˈsä-(ˌ)lās 
-ˈsa-
1
or less commonly quetzal bird
: a Central American trogon (Pharomachrus mocinno) that has brilliant green plumage above, a red breast, and in the male long upper tail coverts
2
Examples of quetzal in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The family went into debt to pay a smuggler 48,000 quetzals, around $6,000, to bring Juana to the border.
—
Lautaro Grinspan, ajc, 6 July 2023
Along with its sister cloud forest, Santa Elena Reserve, Monteverde is a practically untouched paradise home to thousands of plant, animal, and bird species (including the radiant quetzal), visible from jungle paths and nail-biting steel bridges hanging over the canopy.
—Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 20 Apr. 2023
Along with its sister cloud forest, Santa Elena Reserve, Monteverde is the practically untouched paradise home to thousands of plant, animal, and bird species (including the radiant quetzal), visible from jungle paths and nail-biting steel bridges hanging over the canopy.
—Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 8 Dec. 2021
Another birder in our network, Suzy, had been held for ransom after being caught by Surveillers in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve while mapping the migration of the resplendent quetzal, a bird that’s lineage dates back forty-nine million years and that has been extinct for the past twenty.
—Karen Russell, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2021
Locals near similar pyramids have long compared the sound to the cry of the quetzal, a bird venerated by the Mayans.
—Douglas Starr, Discover Magazine, 25 Sep. 2012
In the 1990s acoustician David Lubman recorded the hand-clap echoes at El Castillo and compared them with recordings of the quetzal.
—Douglas Starr, Discover Magazine, 25 Sep. 2012
Keep a keen eye out for the resplendent quetzal, one of Earth's most beautiful birds.
—Joe Minihane, CNN, 24 Mar. 2022
This town gets its name from the country's iconic bird, the quetzal, which was sacred to many ancient cultures.
—Christin Parcerisa Vigueras, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2021
See More
Lautaro Grinspan, ajc, 6 July 2023
Along with its sister cloud forest, Santa Elena Reserve, Monteverde is a practically untouched paradise home to thousands of plant, animal, and bird species (including the radiant quetzal), visible from jungle paths and nail-biting steel bridges hanging over the canopy.
—Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 20 Apr. 2023
Along with its sister cloud forest, Santa Elena Reserve, Monteverde is the practically untouched paradise home to thousands of plant, animal, and bird species (including the radiant quetzal), visible from jungle paths and nail-biting steel bridges hanging over the canopy.
—Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 8 Dec. 2021
Another birder in our network, Suzy, had been held for ransom after being caught by Surveillers in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve while mapping the migration of the resplendent quetzal, a bird that’s lineage dates back forty-nine million years and that has been extinct for the past twenty.
—Karen Russell, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2021
Locals near similar pyramids have long compared the sound to the cry of the quetzal, a bird venerated by the Mayans.
—Douglas Starr, Discover Magazine, 25 Sep. 2012
In the 1990s acoustician David Lubman recorded the hand-clap echoes at El Castillo and compared them with recordings of the quetzal.
—Douglas Starr, Discover Magazine, 25 Sep. 2012
Keep a keen eye out for the resplendent quetzal, one of Earth's most beautiful birds.
—Joe Minihane, CNN, 24 Mar. 2022
This town gets its name from the country's iconic bird, the quetzal, which was sacred to many ancient cultures.
—Christin Parcerisa Vigueras, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2021
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quetzal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
American Spanish, from Nahuatl quetzalli tail coverts of the quetzal
First Known Use
1800, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing quetzal
Dictionary Entries Near quetzal
Cite this Entry
“Quetzal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quetzal. Accessed 3 Oct. 2023.
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