comet

See also: Comet

English

Etymology

From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the tail of a comet, from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). Compare English faxed star and Latin crīnīta stēlla (“comet”, literally “(long) haired star”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɪt/, /ˈkɑmət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒmɪt

Noun

comet (plural comets)

2. (astronomy) A small Solar System body consisting mainly of volatile ice, dust and particles of rock whose very eccentric solar orbit periodically brings it close enough to the Sun that the ice vaporises to form an atmosphere, or coma, which may be blown by the solar wind to produce a visible tail.
   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:

     And They made by the lifting of Their hands, each god according to his sign, the Bright One with the flaring tail to seek from the end of the Worlds to the end of them again, to return again after a hundred years. Man, when thou seest the comet, know that another seeketh besides thee nor ever findeth out.

3. A celestial phenomenon with the appearance of such a body.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

     Upon his browes was pourtraid vgly death,
     And in his eies the furies of his heart,
     That ſhine as Comets, menacing reueng,
     And caſts a pale complexion on his cheeks.

4. Any of several species of hummingbird found in the Andes.

Usage notes

• A comet whose volatile ices have completely evaporated is said to be dead or extinct.

Synonyms

• ☄
• faxed star (rare, dialectal)

Derived terms

• Biela's Comet
• cometarium
• cometary
• comet darner (Aeshna longipes)
• cometesimal
• comet-finder
• cometic
• cometless
• cometlike
• Comet Neowise
• cometocentric
• cometographer
• cometography
• cometoid
• cometology
• comet-seeker
• comet tail
• cometwise
• dead comet
• exocomet
• great comet
• Halley's Comet
• Halley's comet
• interstellar comet
• near-Earth comet
• parabolic comet
• periodical comet
• periodic comet
• short period comet
• short-period comet
• supercomet
• vomit comet

Descendants

• → Malay: komet
• → Urdu: کومٹ (komeṭ)
• → Welsh: comed

Translations

a celestial body, generally with a tail

Afrikaans: komeet (af) Albanian: kometë (sq) f Arabic: مُذَنَّب (ar) m (muḏannab) Egyptian Arabic: مذنب m (muzanab) Armenian: գիսաստղ (hy) (gisastġ) Assamese: ধূমকেতু (dhumketu) Asturian: cometa (ast) m Azerbaijani: kometa Bashkir: комета (kometa), ҡойроҡло йондоҙ (qoyroqlo yondoź) Basque: kometa (eu) Belarusian: каме́та f (kamjéta), камэ́та f (kaméta) Bengali: ধূমকেতু (bn) (dhumketu) Breton: steredenn-lostek (br) f Bulgarian: коме́та f (kométa) Burmese: ကြယ်တံခွန် (my) (kraitamhkwan) Catalan: cometa (ca) m Chechen: комета (kometa) Chinese: Cantonese: 彗星 (seoi6 sing1), 掃把星 / 扫把星 (sou3 baa2 sing1) Hokkien: 長尾星 / 长尾星 (zh-min-nan) (tn̂g-bóe-chheⁿ, tn̂g-bóe-chhiⁿ), 掃帚星 / 扫帚星 (zh-min-nan) (sàu-chhiú-chheⁿ, sàu-chhiú-chhiⁿ), 彗星 (hūi-chheⁿ, hūi-chhiⁿ, hūi-seng) Mandarin: 彗星 (zh) (huìxīng), 掃帚星 / 扫帚星 (zh) (sàozhǒuxīng), 掃把星 / 扫把星 (zh) (sàobǎxīng) Czech: kometa (cs) f Danish: komet (da) c Dhivehi: ގިނިހިލަ (ginihila) Dutch: komeet (nl) m, staartster (nl) f Esperanto: kometo Estonian: komeet (et), sabatäht (colloquial) Fijian: kalokalo vaka-buina Finnish: komeetta (fi), pyrstötähti (fi) French: comète (fr) f Galician: cometa (gl) m Georgian: კომეტა (ḳomeṭa) German: Komet (de) m Greek: κομήτης (el) m (komítis) Gujarati: ધૂમકેતુ (dhūmketu), પૂંછડિયો તારો m (pū̃chḍiyo tāro) Hebrew: שָׁבִיט (he) m (shavít), כּוֹכַב שָׁבִיט (he) m (kokháv shavít) Hindi: धूमकेतु (hi) m (dhūmketu), केतुग्रह m (ketugrah), पुच्छल तारा m (pucchal tārā), केतु (hi) m (ketu), केतुतारा (hi) m (ketutārā) Hungarian: üstökös (hu) Icelandic: halastjarna (is) f Ido: kometo (io) Indonesian: komet (id) Interlingua: cometa Irish: cóiméad Italian: cometa (it) f Japanese: 彗星 (ja) (すいせい, suisei), 箒星 (ja) (ほうきぼし, hōkiboshi) Kannada: ಧೂಮಕೇತು (kn) (dhūmakētu) Kazakh: комета (kometa) Khmer: ធូមកេតុ (thuumĕəʼkaet), ផ្កាយដុះកន្ទុយ (phkaay doh kɑntuy) Korean: 혜성(彗星) (ko) (hyeseong) Kumyk: къуйрукълу юлдуз (quyruqlu yulduz) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: komet (ku), dûvstêr (ku) Kyrgyz: комета (ky) (kometa), куйруктуу жылдыз (kuyruktuu jıldız) Lao: ດາວຫາງ (lo) (dāo hāng) Latin: comētēs m, stella crītīna f Latvian: komēta f Lithuanian: kometa (lt) f Lü: ᦡᦱᧁᦠᦱᧂ (ḋaawḣaang) Luxembourgish: Koméit (lb) m Macedonian: коме́та (mk) f (kométa) Malay: komet (ms) Malayalam: ധൂമകേതു (ml) (dhūmakētu), വാൽനക്ഷത്രം (ml) (vālnakṣatraṁ) Maltese: kometa f Manchu: ᡝᡵᡳᡴᡠ ᡠᠰᡳᡥᠠ (eriku usiha) Maori: unahiroa, whetūrere Marathi: धूमकेतू (dhūmketū) Mi'kmaq: pugtewit anim Mongolian: Cyrillic: сүүлт од (süült od) Nandi: cheptapis Navajo: sǫʼtsoh jóhonaaʼéí yináalwołígíí Nepali: धूमकेतु (dhūmketu) Norman: conmète f Norwegian: Bokmål: komet m Nynorsk: komet m Odia: ଧୂମକେତୁ (or) (dhumaketu) Okinawan: 箒星 (ほーちぶし, hōchibushi), 入り髪星 (いりがんぶし, iriganbushi) Ottoman Turkish: قویروقلو یلدز (kuyruklu yıldız) Pali: dhūmaketu Pashto: لکۍ لرونکی ستوری Persian: Iranian Persian: دُنْبالِه‌دار (donbâle-dâr), دُنْبالِه دار (donbâle dâr), کومِت (komet) Polish: kometa (pl) f Portuguese: cometa (pt) m Punjabi: Gurmukhi: ਧੂਮਕੇਤੂ (dhūmketū) Romanian: cometă (ro) f Russian: коме́та (ru) f (kométa) Sanskrit: धूमकेतु (sa) m (dhūmaketu), केतुतारा (sa) f (ketutārā), उपग्रह (sa) m (upagraha), केतु (sa) m (ketu) Scottish Gaelic: reul-chearbach f, reul earballach f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: коме́та f Roman: kométa (sh) f Sindhi: پُڇُڙُ تارو m (pučhurru tārow) Sinhalese: වල්ගාතරු (walgātaru) Slovak: kométa (sk) f Slovene: komet (sl) m, repatica (sl) f Somali: seef-cireed (so), dibdheer (so) Southern Altai: куйрукту јылдыс (kuyruktu ǰïldïs) Spanish: cometa (es) m, guashuma f (El Salvador) Swedish: komet (sv) c Tagalog: barikod, kometa, bandus Tai Nüa: ᥘᥣᥝᥞᥣᥒᥴ (láawhaang) Tajik: комета (kometa), дунболадор (dunbolador) Tamil: வால்வெள்ளி (ta) (vālveḷḷi) Tatar: комета (qömeta) Tày: đao hang Telugu: తోకచుక్క (te) (tōkacukka) Thai: ดาวหาง (th) (daao-hǎang) Tlingit: xoodzí Turkish: kuyruklu yıldız (tr) Turkmen: kometa Tuvan: кудуруктуг сылдыс (kuduruktug sıldıs) Udmurt: быжокизили (byžokiźiľi) Ukrainian: коме́та f (kométa) Urdu: کومِٹ (komiṭ), دُم دار تارا (dum dār tārā), دُومْکیت (dūmket) Uyghur: قۇيرۇقلۇق يۇلتۇز (ug) (quyruqluq yultuz) Uzbek: kometa (uz) Vietnamese: sao chổi (vi) (𣋀𥶲) Welsh: comed (cy) f West Frisian: komeet c Yiddish: קאָמעט m (komet) Yoruba: ìràwọ̀ onírù Yup'ik: agyuliq Zhuang: ndaundeiqsauqbaet Zulu: inkanyezi enomsila

Further reading

• comet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Comte, comte

Catalan

Verb

comet

1. inflection of cometre:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Verb

cōmet

1. third-person singular future active indicative of cōmō

Romanian

Noun

comet n (plural comete)

1. alternative form of cometă

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	comet	cometul		comete	cometele
genitive-dative	comet	cometului		comete	cometelor
vocative	cometule			cometelor