Galaxy

How to spell galaxy

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce galaxy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does galaxy mean?

1. nounA vast system of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity.

Galaxy in a sentence

• The telescope captured a distant spiral galaxy millions of light years away.

• Our solar system sits within a galaxy called the Milky Way.

Where does galaxy come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word comes from the Greek galaxias, short for galaxias kyklos, meaning 'milky circle', a description of the pale band of light arching across the night sky. That phrase was built on gala, the ordinary Greek word for 'milk', so the ancient name pictured the Milky Way as a smear of spilt milk among the stars. The term passed into Latin as galaxias and then into Old French as galaxie, reaching English in the 1300s, where Chaucer referred to the 'Galaxie' or 'Milky Wey'. For centuries it named only our own star system, but as astronomers discovered other vast collections of stars beyond it, the word broadened to mean any such system. The Greek root gala also survives in 'lactose' and 'galactic', and remembering the 'milk' connection helps fix the single 'l' and the unusual '-axy' ending.

How the word is built

• galax- (from Greek gala: milk)
• -y (noun suffix forming the noun, via Latin galaxias)