astronomy

English

Etymology

From Middle English astronomie, astronemy, from Old French astronomie, equivalent to astro- +‎ -nomy. Displaced native Old English tungolcræft.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈstɹɒn.ə.mi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈstɹɑ.nə.mi/, /æsˈtɹɑ.nə.mi/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒnəmi

Noun

astronomy (usually uncountable, plural astronomies)

2. The study of the physical universe beyond the Earth's atmosphere, including the process of mapping locations and properties of the matter and radiation in the universe.
   • 2011 October 9, Meg Urry, “Dark energy, science’s biggest mystery”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 12 January 2025:

     The fact is, dark energy is the biggest mystery in science. It has driven a huge amount of research in the past decade, and was a key driver in last year’s “New Worlds, New Horizons” report from the National Academies of Science, which prioritized future astronomy and astrophysics projects.

3. (obsolete) Astrology.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 14”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
     And yet methinks I have astronomy […]

Usage notes

• The study of the physical processes which control matter and energy in the universe is commonly called astrophysics. The investigation of the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe itself is called cosmology.

Hypernyms

• science

Hyponyms

• archaeoastronomy
• archeoastronomy
• astronomer
• bioastronomy
• Cherenkov astronomy
• ethnoastronomy
• gamma-ray astronomy
• gravitational-wave astronomy
• infrared astronomy
• multi-messenger astronomy
• neutrino astronomy
• optical astronomy
• paleoastronomy
• radar astronomy
• radio astronomy
• ultraviolet astronomy
• X-ray astronomy

Derived terms

• archaeastronomy
• archaeoastronomy
• archeoastronomy
• astronomer
• astronomess
• astronomick
• astronomist
• bioastronomy
• ethnoastronomy
• paleoastronomy

Related terms

• astral
• astrologist
• astrology
• astrometry
• astronomer
• astronomical
• astronomically
• astrophysics

Translations

study of the physical universe beyond the Earth's atmosphere

• Afrikaans: sterrekunde (af)
• Albanian: astronomi (sq) f
• Amharic: ሥነ ፈለክ (śənä fäläk)
• Arabic: فَلَك (ar) m (falak), عِلْم الْفَلَك (ar) m (ʕilm al-falak)
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܡܲܠܠܘܼܬ ܟܵܘܟ݂ܒ݂ܹ̈ܐ f (mmallūt kāwḵḇē), ܐܲܣܛܪܘܿܢܘܿܡܝܼܵܐ f (asṭrōnōmīyā)

• Armenian: աստղագիտություն (hy) (astġagitutʻyun)
• Aromanian: astrunumii f
• Asturian: astronomía f
• Aymara: alaxpacha yänakata
• Azerbaijani: astronomiya (az)
• Basque: astronomia (eu)
• Belarusian: астрано́мія f (astranómija)
• Bengali: জ্যোতির্বিজ্ঞান (bn) (jōtirbiggên), জ্যোতির্বিদ্যা (bn) (jōtirbidda)
• Breton: steredoniezh (br) f
• Bulgarian: астроно́мия (bg) f (astronómija)
• Burmese: နက္ခတ္တဗေဒ (my) (nakhkatta.beda.)
• Catalan: astronomia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 天文學 / 天文学 (tin¹ man⁴ hok⁶)

  Hokkien: 天文學 / 天文学 (thian-bûn-ha̍k)

  Mandarin: 天文學 / 天文学 (zh) (tiānwénxué)

• Chinook Jargon: tsiltsil-kəmtəks (Grand Ronde)
• Cornish: steronieth f
• Czech: hvězdářství n, astronomie (cs) f
• Danish: astronomi (da) c
• Dinka: ŋiɛ̈ckanhial
• Dutch: astronomie (nl) f, sterrenkunde (nl) f
• Esperanto: astronomio (eo)
• Estonian: astronoomia (et), täheteadus
• Faroese: stjørnufrøði f
• Finnish: tähtitiede (fi), astronomia (fi)
• French: astronomie (fr) f
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: stjerrekunde (fy) n

• Galician: astronomía (gl) f
• Georgian: ასტრონომია (asṭronomia)
• German: Astronomie (de) f, Sternkunde (de) f, Himmelskunde f

  Bavarian: Steankunde ?

• Greek: αστρονομία (el) f (astronomía)

  Ancient Greek: ἀστρονομία f (astronomía)

• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} mbyjakuaa

• Gujarati: ખગોળ (gu) ? (khagoḷ), ખગોળશાસ્ત્ર ? (khagoḷśāstra)
• Haitian Creole: astwonomi
• Hawaiian: kilo hōkū
• Hebrew: אַסְטְרוֹנוֹמְיָה (he) f (astronómya)
• Hindi: खगोल शास्त्र m (khagol śāstra)
• Hungarian: csillagászat (hu), asztronómia (hu)
• Icelandic: stjörnufræði (is) f
• Indonesian: astronomi (id), ilmu falak, ilmu perbintangan
• Interlingua: astronomia (ia)
• Inuktitut: ᓯᓚᓯᐅᕐᓂᖅ (silasiorniq), ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᓕᕆᓂᖅ (silaryoaliriniq)
• Irish: réalteolaíocht (ga) f
• Italian: astronomia (it) f
• Japanese: 天文学 (ja) (てんもんがく, tenmongaku)
• Javanese: Astronomi
• Kalmyk: астроном (astronom)
• Kannada: ಖಗೋಳಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ (kn) (khagōḷaśāstra)
• Kazakh: жұлдызтану (juldıztanuw), астрономия (kk) (astronomıya)
• Khmer: តារាសាស្ត្រ (km) (taaraasaah), នក្ខត្តយោគ (nĕəkkhattayook)
• Korean: 천문학(天文學) (ko) (cheonmunhak)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئەستێرەناسی (estêrenasî)

  Northern Kurdish: stêrnasî (ku), ezmannasî, stêrnasî (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: астрономия (ky) (astronomiya)
• Lak: ціурттал элму
• Lao: ດາລາສາດ (lo) (dā lā sāt), ດາຣາສາດ (dā rā sāt)
• Latin: astrologia (la) f, (Late) astronomia (la) f
• Latvian: astronomija (lv) f
• Limburgish: starekunde ?
• Lingala: mambí ma nzɔ́tɔ
• Lithuanian: astronomija (lt) f
• Macedonian: астрономија (mk) f (astronomija)
• Malagasy: astrônômia (mg)
• Malay: astronomi (ms), ilmu falak (ms), kaji bintang, perbintangan (ms)
• Malayalam: ജ്യോതിഃശാസ്ത്രം (jyōtiḥśāstraṁ)
• Maltese: astronomija f
• Manx: rollageydys m
• Māori: tātai arorangi, mātai arorangi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: одон орон (mn) (odon oron), одон орон судлал (odon oron sudlal), астрономи (mn) (astronomi)

  Mongolian script: ᠣᠳᠤᠨ
  ᠣᠷᠤᠨ (odun orun), ᠣᠳᠤᠨ
  ᠣᠷᠤᠨ
  ᠰᠤᠳᠤᠯᠤᠯ (odun orun sudulul), ᠠᠰᠲ᠋ᠷᠣᠨᠣᠮᠢ (astronomi)

• Navajo: sǫʼ naalkaah
• Norman: astronomie f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: astronomi (no) m, stjernelære m or f

  Nynorsk: astronomi m, stjernelære f, stjernekunne f

• Occitan: astronomia (oc) f
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: tungolcræft m
• Pashto: ستورپوهنه f (storpohǝna), نجوم (ps) m (nojum), ستاره شناسي f (setāra šenāsī)
• Persian: نجوم (fa) (nojum), ستاره‌شناسی (fa) (setâre-šenâsi), اخترشناسی (fa) (axtaršenâsi), اخترماری sg (axtarmāri)
• Polish: astronomia (pl) f
• Portuguese: astronomia (pt) f
• Romanian: astronomie (ro) f
• Romansh: astronomia f
• Russian: астроно́мия (ru) f (astronómija)
• Sanskrit: खगोलशास्त्रम् n (khagolaśāstram)
• Scottish Gaelic: reul-eòlas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: астроно̀мија (sh) f, звјездозна́нство n

  Latin: astronòmija (sh) f, zvjezdoznánstvo (sh) n

• Sindhi: نَجمِيات (sd) (najmīāt), نَجمِيات (sd) (najmiyaat)
• Sinhalese: තාරකා විද්‍යාව (tārakā widyāwa)
• Slovak: hvezdárstvo f, astronómia (sk) f
• Slovene: astronomija (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: hwězdarstwo n

• Sotho: bolepi
• Spanish: astronomía (es) f
• Swahili: falaki (sw), astronomia
• Swedish: astronomi (sv) c
• Tagalog: astronomiya, dalubtalaan (neologism)
• Tajik: нуҷум (tg) (nujum), ситорашиносӣ (tg) (sitorašinosi), ахтаршиносӣ (axtaršinosi)
• Tamil: வானியல் (ta) (vāṉiyal), வானவியல் (vāṉaviyal)
• Tatar: астрономия (astronomiyä)
• Thai: ดาราศาสตร์ (th) (daa-raa-sàat)
• Turkish: gök bilimi (tr) (seldom), astronomi (tr)
• Turkmen: astronomiýa (tk)
• Ukrainian: астроно́мія (uk) f (astronómija)
• Urdu: فلکیات f (falkīyāt), نجمیات
• Uyghur: ئاسترونومىيە (astronomiye), ئاستىرانومىيە (astiranomiye)
• Uzbek: astronomiya (uz)
• Vietnamese: thiên văn học (vi) (天文學 (vi))
• Volapük: stelav (vo)
• Welsh: seryddiaeth (cy) f
• Yiddish: אַסטראָנאָמיע f (astronomye)

See also

• cosmology
• uranology
• starlore

References

• “astronomy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Polish

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /as.trɔˈnɔ.mɘ/
• Rhymes: -ɔmɘ
• Syllabification: as‧tro‧no‧my

Noun

astronomy

1. (deprecative) nominative plural of astronom