English
An unidentified flying object photographed in Belgium in 1990.
Etymology
The phrase is usually attributed to Edward J. Ruppelt who coined it as a replacement of the terms flying saucer and flying disk .
Noun
unidentified flying object (plural unidentified flying objects )
Anything not readily explainable appearing to move through or be suspended in the air, primarily used to refer to objects that seem to be at least of small familiar aircraft size. Abbreviated UFO .
The lights seen over the city last night, originally termed unidentified flying objects , turned out to be spotlights from a car dealership reflecting on low clouds.
( colloquial ) An alien spacecraft. More commonly called a UFO .
Synonyms
Derived terms
Coordinate terms
Translations
anything in the air not readily explainable
Armenian: չբացահայտված թռչող օբյեկտ ( čʻbacʻahaytvac tʻṙčʻoġ ōbyekt )
Asturian: oxetu esnalador non identificáu m
Azerbaijani: naməlum uçan obyekt , ( abbreviation ) NUO , uçan naməlum obyekt
Basque: objektu hegalari ezezagun
Belarusian: неапазна́ны лята́ючы аб'е́кт m ( njeapaznány ljatájučy abʺjékt )
Bulgarian: неидентифици́ран летя́щ обе́кт m ( neidentificíran letjášt obékt )
Catalan: objecte volador no identificat m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 不明飛行物體 / 不明飞行物体 , 不明飞行物体 ( bat1 ming4 fei1 hang4 mat6 tai2 )
Mandarin: 不明飛行物 / 不明飞行物 ( bùmíng fēixíngwù ) , 不明飞行物 ( bùmíng fēixíngwù ) , 飛碟 / 飞碟 (zh) ( fēidié ) , 飞碟 (zh) ( fēidié ) , 幽浮 (zh) ( yōufú )
Cornish: taklen-neyja anaswonys f
Czech: neidentifikovatelný létající předmět m , UFO (cs) m ( abbreviation )
Dutch: UFO (nl) n ( abbreviation )
Esperanto: ne-identifita flug-objekto , NIFO ( abbreviation )
Finnish: tunnistamaton lentävä esine ; UFO (fi) , ufo (fi) ( abbreviations )
French: objet volant non-identifié m , OVNI (fr) m ( abbreviation )
Georgian: ამოუცნობი მფრინავი ობიექტი ( amoucnobi mprinavi obiekṭi )
German: unidentifiziertes Flugobjekt n , UFO (de) n ( abbreviation )
Greek: άγνωστης ταυτότητας ιπτάμενο αντικείμενο ( ágnostis taftótitas iptámeno antikeímeno ) , ΑΤΙΑ (el) ( ATIA ) ( abbreviation )
Hindi: उड़न तश्तरी ( uṛan taśtarī )
Hungarian: azonosítatlan repülő tárgy
(deprecated template usage ) {{trans-mid }}
Icelandic: fljúgandi furðuhlutur (is) m , FFH n ( abbreviation )
Italian: oggetto volante non identificato m , OVNI (it) m ( abbreviation )
Japanese: UFO (ja) ( ユーフォー , Yūfō) , 未確認飛行物体 ( mikakunin-hikō-buttai )
Kannada: ಅಪರಿಚಿತ ಹಾರಾಡುವ ವಸ್ತು ( aparicita hārāḍuva vastu )
Kazakh: беймәлім ұшқыш нысан ( beimälım ūşqyş nysan )
Korean: 미확인비행물체 (ko) ( mihwaginbihaengmulche )
Macedonian: неидентификуван летечки објект m ( neidentifikuvan letečki objekt ) , НЛО (mk) ( NLO ) ( abbreviation )
Mongolian: үл танигдах нисдэг биет ( ül tanigdax nisdeg bijet ) , ҮТНБ ( ÜTNB )
Norwegian: uidentifisert flygende objekt n
Polish: niezidentyfikowany obiekt latający (pl) m
Portuguese: objeto voador não-identificado m
Romanian: obiect zburător neidentificat n
Russian: неопо́знанный лета́ющий объе́кт (ru) m ( neopóznannyj letájuščij obʺjékt ) , НЛО (ru) m ( NLO ) ( abbreviation )
Sinhalese: හඳුනා නොගත් පියාඹන වස්තූන් ( haⁿdunā nogat piyāᵐbana wastūn )
Spanish: objeto volador no identificado m
Swedish: oidentifierat flygande föremål n , oidentifierat flygande objekt n ; UFO (sv) n , ufo (sv) n ( abbreviations )
Tamil: அடையாளம் கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியாத பறக்கும் பொருள் ( aṭaiyāḷam kaṇṭupiṭikka muṭiyāta paṟakkum poruḷ )
Telugu: గుర్తించబడని ఎగురుతున్న వస్తువు ( gurtiñcabaḍani egurutunna vastuvu )
Ukrainian: непі́знаний літа́ючий об'є́кт m ( nepíznanyj litájučyj obʺjékt )
Vietnamese: vật thể bay không xác định , vật thể bay chưa xác định
colloquial: an alien spacecraft