asteroid

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀστεροειδής (asteroeidḗs, “starlike”),^[2][3][4][5] from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”) and -οειδής (-oeidḗs, “-like”), from εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”);^[6][7][3] the Greek word for star comes from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“star”).^[7][4] The word was coined in 1802, probably by the German-born astronomer William Herschel,^[7][2] according to Wiktionary at the suggestion of the classical scholar Charles Burney the younger.^[1] Merriam-Webster treats the later adjective as an international scientific word from the same Greek source,^[8] and Dictionary.com relates it to asterisk and -oid.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the many small planetary bodies orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter: 1802, in a paper by William Herschel in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The name described how these bodies looked through a telescope, as points of light like stars, although they move like small planets; the OED records planetoid and minor planet as other names.^[2][8][10] For a while in the 1830s and 1840s the word was also used of a meteor,^[2] and since 1875 of a kind of firework.^[2][2] In zoology it named a starfish of the class Asteroidea from 1841, in Edward Forbes's history of British starfishes,^[2] and as an adjective it has meant "star-shaped" since the mid-19th century (1854 in the OED, 1824 in Merriam-Webster).^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1802 – a small planetary body orbiting the sun, coined by Herschel.^[2][7][3]
• 1824 – adjective, like a star (Merriam-Webster).^[8]
• 1830 – a meteor (obsolete by 1849).^[2]
• 1841 – a starfish.^[2]
• 1854 – adjective, star-shaped (OED).^[2]
• 1875 – a kind of firework.^[2]
• 1888 – adjective, of the Asteroidea.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of the many small rocky bodies that orbit the sun, most of them between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; a minor planet or planetoid.^[10][8][5]
2. (zoology) A starfish, an echinoderm of the class Asteroidea.^[10][8][5]

Adjective

1. Shaped like a star.^[10][8][2]
2. (zoology) Of or belonging to the class Asteroidea.^[10][2]

Word family

• asteroidal
• asteroid belt

Related words

• aster
• asterisk
• asterism
• star
• -oid
• disaster

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins