asteroid
/ˈæst(ə)ɹɔɪd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.56 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and a dwarf planet, larger than a meteoroid and not a comet, that orbits a star and often has an irregular shape.
noun
In the Solar System, such a body that orbits within the orbit of Jupiter.
Example Sentences
Etymology
]Introduced by German–British astronomer William Herschel in 1802 upon the suggestion of classical scholar Charles Burney Jr. (1757–1817), the son of music historian Charles Burney, a friend of Herschel's. Probably coined as a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀστεροειδής (asteroeidḗs, “starlike”), from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “celestial body”) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, aster + -oid.