perigee
/ˈpɛɹ.ə.d͡ʒi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is closest to the Earth: the periapsis of an Earth orbiter.
noun
The point, in an orbit about any planet, that is closest to the planet: the periapsis of any satellite.
noun
The point, in any trajectory of an object in space, where it is closest to the Earth.
Example Sentences
- "As the moon wheels around Earth every 28 days and shows us a progressively greater and then stingier slice of its sun-lightened face, the distance between the moon and Earth changes, too. At the nearest point along its egg-shaped orbit, its perigee, the moon may be 26,000 miles closer to us than it is at its far point."
- "Conjunctions of I and II [Io and Europa] occur when they are near perigee and apogee respectively; conjunctions of II and III [Europa and Ganymede] occur when II [Europa] is near perigee."
- "The resolution of the images obtained by this American probe [Messenger] will depend on its altitude [above Mercury] at any one time: about ten meters at perigee (200km altitude), but only one 1 km at apogee (15000km)."
- "[Nereid’s] apogee—farthest point from Neptune—is five times the distance of its perigee—its closest point."
Etymology
From French périgée via Latin perigeum, perigaeum, ultimately from Ancient Greek περί (perí, “near”) + γῆ (gê, “Earth”).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɛɹ.ə.d͡ʒi/
- British English: /ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː/