- pronunciation:
- plae
niht
- features:
- Word History, Word Explorer
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition: |
A planet is a large, ball-like object in space that moves around a star. Planets are much smaller than stars, and they don't give off light as stars do. Earth is a planet that moves around the star that we call the sun. The other planets that move around the sun are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.
Did you know that Mars is the nearest planet to Earth?Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.
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| related words: |
globe |
The word
planet entered English eight hundred years ago, during the Middle Ages. "Planet" comes from the ancient Greek term
asteres planetai or "wandering stars." In 1640, astronomers began using the word "planet" in its modern sense of a body that circles a star (the sun).