Earth & SkyGreek → English
Apogee
/ˈæpədʒiː/noun
The point in an orbit farthest from the earth; by extension, a high point.
The Greek roots
ἀπό
apó
away from
γῆ
gê
earth
Literally: “away from the earth”
The story of the word
Ptolemaic astronomers needed the term because their circles were off-centre, so a body's distance changed even in a system where the earth stood still. The word survived the switch to Copernicus unharmed and now serves satellites. The figurative use arrived within a few decades of the technical one, and English has kept both, so an empire and a communications satellite can each reach apogee.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 1590s
Same family
perigeegeologygeographyapostrophe
In a sentence
The transfer burn happens at apogee, where the spacecraft is moving slowest.