Galaxy

3 days ago - Galaxies occasionally collide during their lifetime. The word galaxy was borrowed via French and Medieval Latin from the Greek term for the Milky Way, galaxías (kúklos) γαλαξίας (κύκλος) 'milky (circle)', named after its appearance as a milky band of light in the sky.

May 24, 2022 - It's a lovely notion, for ... in both Milky Way and galaxy: the ultimate root of the English word galaxy is Greek gála, meaning "milk."...

early 15c., aggregacioun, originally in medicine (Chauliac), "formation of a pustule," from Medieval Latin aggregationem (nominative aggregatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin aggregare "collect, bring together," from ad "to" (see ad-) + gregare "to collect in ... Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of galaxy. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved November 25, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/galaxyCopy

From Middle English galaxye, galaxie, from Old French galaxie, from Latin galaxias, from Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxías, “Milky Way”), shortening of γαλαξίας κύκλος (galaxías kúklos, “milky circle”), from γάλα ...

July 17, 2021 - The word Galaxy comes from the Greek word γαλαξίας (galaksias), meaning ‘milky’. The word κύκλος (kuklos), meaning ‘circle’, was understood after it.

Middle English galaxias, galaxie, borrowed from Late Latin galaxias, borrowed from Greek galaxías (probably originally conjoined with kýklos "wheel"), from galakt-, stem of gála "milk" (going back to Indo-European *glkt-, attested elsewhere ...

July 12, 2020 - It originally comes from the Greek phrase galaxias kyklos, meaning “milky circle.” (Funny enough, that means that lactose, the sugar present in milk, is cognate with galaxy, meaning they share a root.)

Origin of galaxy1 · C14 (in the sense: the Milky Way), from Medieval Latin galaxia, from Latin galaxias, from Greek, from gala milk; related to Latin lac milk · Discover More · Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words ...

June 28, 2021 - Until 1920s people believed that there is only one Galaxy that contains all the stars. So the Greek word Galaxy was translated as the Milky Way in English.

Answer: It's Greek for “milkiness”, corresponding to the Latin Via Galactea, “Milky Way”, or, as we say it in English, Milky Way. It's only in relatively recent times that we have identified galaxies other than our own, and in the process ...

May 26, 2024 - I know that the word galaxy is derived from an old Greek word, but it's NOT the answer to my question simply because the meaning of the Greek word was totally different – “milky”. Different Internet sites give different Greek phrases, but it doesn’t really matter which one is used.

The Origin of the Word 'Galaxy' · The word galaxy derives from the Greek term for our own galaxy, galaxias, meaning "milky circle" for its appearance in the sky. In Greek mythology, Zeus places his son born by a mortal woman, the infant Heracles, on Hera's breast while she is asleep so that ...

June 12, 2023 - We may find it in an ancient text, ... In the case of “galaxy,” as far as we know, the first time it appeared in writing in English was in House of Fame, a poem by Chaucer....

May 28, 2019 - I don’t know why the ancient ... Milky Way. The ancient Greeks called it that too, only not in English. Stemming from the Greek word for milk, gala, they called it Galaxias, which in English became galaxy....

June 20, 2022 - The noun galaxy is from post-classical Latin galaxias, denoting the Milky Way, from Hellenistic Greek γαλαξίας (= galaxias), short for γαλαξίας κύκλος (= galaxias kuklos), milky circle, from ancient Greek γάλα/γαλακτ- ...

English word galaxy comes from Latin lac, Ancient Greek (to 1453) γάλα, and later Welsh llaeth (Milk. Milk-like substance, latex.

late 14c., from French galaxie or directly from Late Latin galaxias "the Milky Way" as a feature in the night sky (in classical Latin via lactea or circulus lacteus), from Greek galaxias (adj.), in galaxias kyklos, literally "milky circle," ...

September 25, 2021 - Did you know that galaxy is from the Greek word for milk? I didn’t! Given that our galaxy is the Milky Way though, I wasn’t terribly surprised. The original Greek phrase was in fact galaxias kyklos, meaning “milky circle.” The term made its way into Latin, and from Latin to French, ...

November 7, 2016 - It's one of those terms that's so old that its origin is generally forgotten by now." In fact, Stanley added, the Milky Way provided astronomers with the Greek root for the astronomical term "galaxy."