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English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search
| Word of the
Week--"galaxy"
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Definition--a large-scale
aggregate of stars, gas,
and dust, ranging in diameter from 1,500 to 300,000 light years.
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Discussion--the sun is the center
of our galaxy, which is dubbed the Milky
Way for its milky appearance (not its resemblance to a candy bar).
Although our galaxy is vast, the Milky
Way is just one of a galaxy of galaxies in the universe. As with the sun
and the moon though, we did not
always recognize this, and thus the terms have become both specific and
general. Sun can refer both to
our sun or other suns in our own or other galaxies. Likewise, the only
name we have our moon is the moon,
but we know many other planets also have moons.
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| Etymology--Galaxy is
derived from the Latin and Greek terms
for milk--galaxius, and was first used around 1380.
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The languages below show similar
terms also derived from milk. |
Foreign
Translations
| German: |
Galaxie (f) |
| Dutch: |
melkweg (de) |
| French: |
galaxie (f) |
| Italian: |
galassia |
| Spanish: |
galaxia |
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