Earth & SkyGreek → English
Corona
/kəˈroʊnə/noun
A ring or halo of light, especially the outer atmosphere of the sun seen during a total eclipse.
The Greek roots
κορώνη
korṓnē
anything curved, wreath
Literally: “curved thing, wreath”
Follow a root:κορώνη2 words
The story of the word
Latin corona, a wreath, is generally taken from Greek korṓnē, which meant anything hooked or curved: the notched tip of a bow where the string sits, a door handle, and a crow, for the shape of its beak. Astronomers gave the name to the halo blazing around the moon's edge at a total eclipse, which is hotter than the sun's surface by a factor nobody fully explains. Crown, coronation and coroner, originally an officer of the Crown, all descend from the same Latin word.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1650s
Same family
crowncoronationcoronercoronary
In a sentence
For two minutes the corona was visible with the naked eye.
A corona around the moon usually means ice crystals and rain by morning.