Planet Meaning
/ˈplænɪt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Definition
nounEach of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
nounAny body that orbits the Sun, including the asteroids (as minor planets) and sometimes the moons of those bodies (as satellite planets)
Sentence Examples
Synonyms & Antonyms
Word Origin & History
From Middle English planete, from Old French planete, from Latin planeta, planetes, from Ancient Greek πλανήτης (planḗtēs, “wanderer”) (itself an ellipsis of ἀστέρες πλανῆται (astéres planêtai, “wandering stars”)), from Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō, “wander about, stray”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Latin pālor (“wander about, stray”), Old Norse flana (“to rush about”), and Norwegian flanta (“to wander about”). More at flaunt. So called because they have apparent motion, unlike the "fixed" stars. Originally including also the moon and sun but not the Earth; modern scientific sense of "world that orbits a star" is from 1630s in English. The Greek word is an enlarged form of πλάνης (plánēs, “who wanders around, wanderer”), also "wandering star, planet", in medicine "unstable temperature." Displaced native Old English tungol.