Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Astronomy
The scientific study of celestial objects.
The Greek roots
ἄστρον
ástron
star
νόμος
nómos
law, arrangement
Literally: “the law of the stars”
The story of the word
The 'law-ordering of the stars' — ástron also gives us astronaut, asteroid, and disaster ('ill-starred').
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
A lifelong love of astronomy began with a cheap telescope.