quetzal

noun

quet·​zal ket-ˈsäl  -ˈsal 

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

plural usually quetzales the basic monetary unit of Guatemala see Money Table

Illustration of quetzal

• quetzal 1

Examples of quetzal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In Peru, distances on a map may look short as the quetzal flies, but actually traversing them — often on narrow, vertiginous roads prone to washouts, rockslides, and a startling array of livestock — can be grindingly slow. —Tom Vanderbilt, Travel + Leisure, 2 Dec. 2023

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

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

• quetzal bird

Kids Definition

quetzal

noun

quet·​zal ket-ˈsäl  -ˈsal 

plural quetzals or quetzales -ˈsäl-ās 

: a brightly colored Central American bird with green feathers, a red breast, and in the male tail feathers often over two feet (60 centimeters) in length