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galaxy

gal·ax·y

galaxy

 
 
pronunciation:
gae lk si
features:
Word Combinations (noun), Word History, Word Explorer
part of speech: noun
inflections: galaxies
definition: a collection of billions of stars and other matter held together by gravity. Our planet Earth and the sun belong to the Milky Way galaxy. They are only tiny parts of this galaxy.
A telescope helps us see other galaxies from Earth.
 
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Word History
The word galaxy comes galaktos, an ancient Greek word that means "milk." The Latin word for "milk", lac, also came from this Greek word. The Latin phrase via lactea, or "the Milky Way," is where the name of Earth's galaxy comes from.
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  outer space, space