planet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈplæn.ɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English planete, late Old English planete,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French planete (modern French planète) and directly from Late Latin planēta,^[2][3] usually in the plural planētae, replacing older Latin stellae errantes “wandering stars”,^[4][5] from Ancient Greek πλανήτης (planḗtēs, “wanderer”), from (astéres) planêtai “wandering (stars)”,^[2][3][4] from πλανάομαι (planâsthai, “to wander”), a word of uncertain etymology.^[2][3] Beekes considers a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“flat; to spread”), but finds the semantics highly problematic.^[2] It is related to plankton and planetary.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In old astronomy, a heavenly body with an apparent motion of its own among the fixed stars: about 1050 in the OED,^[7] late Old English in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The planets were so called because they move, unlike the fixed stars, and the term once included the Sun and Moon but not the Earth.^[2][6] In astrology, with reference to their influence on human affairs, it is from about 1290.^[7] The modern scientific sense, a body orbiting a star, is from the 1630s,^[2] 1640 in the OED and Barnhart.^[7][3] Johnson called them “the erratick or wandering stars”.^[8] Planetary is from 1593.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – a wandering star.^[7]
• c. 1290 – in astrology.^[7]
• 1593 – planetary.^[3]
• 1640 – a body orbiting the sun.^[7][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large body that revolves around a star, such as the Earth around the Sun.
2. The planet, the Earth.
3. In old astronomy, any of the seven heavenly bodies that move among the fixed stars, including the Sun and Moon.
4. In astrology, any of these bodies as influencing human affairs.

Word family

• planetlike
• interplanetary
• planetarium
• planetary
• planetesimal
• planetoid
• planetology
• planet-stricken

Related words

• planet-struck
• plankton

Usage notes

A rare different planet, a chasuble, is from Medieval Latin planeta (1602).^[5][7][9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster