Coined by William Herschel in 1802 from Greek 'asteroeidēs' (star-like); 'astēr' is also the ancestor of 'star' and 'disaster' (ill-starred).
A small rocky body orbiting the sun, mostly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, smaller than a planet but larger than a meteoroid.
Coined by the astronomer William Herschel in 1802 from Greek 'asteroeidēs' (ἀστεροειδής) meaning 'star-like,' composed of 'astēr' (star) and '-oeidēs' (resembling, having the form of, from 'eidos,' form). Herschel chose the term because the newly discovered bodies between Mars and Jupiter appeared as star-like points of light through telescopes, unlike planets which showed visible discs. The Greek 'astēr' descends from PIE *h₂stḗr (star), which also produced
The word 'disaster' is a hidden cousin of 'asteroid' — it comes from Italian 'disastro,' meaning 'ill-starred,' from Latin 'dis-' (bad) and 'astrum' (star). Both words trace back to the same PIE root *h₂stḗr. So a disaster was originally a celestial event — an unfavorable alignment of the stars —