Earth & SkyGreek → English
Meteoroid
/ˈmiːtiərɔɪd/noun
A rock or metal fragment travelling through space, smaller than an asteroid and not yet in anyone's atmosphere.
The Greek roots
μετέωρος
metéōros
raised up, in mid-air
εἶδος
eîdos
form, appearance
Literally: “shaped like a thing aloft”
The story of the word
Aristotle's Meteorologica covered everything that happened above the ground, so rain, comets, haloes and shooting stars were all μετέωρα, which is why weather forecasting and space rocks share a root. The three-way split came late and is strictly about location: meteoroid in space, meteor in the air, meteorite on the ground. The middle term was coined in 1865 to fill the gap.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1865
Same family
meteormeteorologymeteoriteasteroid
In a sentence
A meteoroid the size of a pea can put on a good show once it hits the air.