dwarf planet

English

Etymology

Coined by analogy with dwarf star, as part of a tripartite classification of planets: classical planets (the big 8 in the Sol system), satellite planets (planetary-mass moons) and dwarf planets. Redefined by the IAU in 2006 to be a category of sub-planetary objects.

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

Noun

dwarf planet (plural dwarf planets)

(astronomy) A planetary (world-like) body of the Solar system, that directly orbits the Sun like the classical planets but does not gravitationally dominate other bodies in the region of its orbit.
Synonyms: planetoid, quasi-planet, sub-planet

Hypernyms: minor planet, planet, planetary-mass object

Hyponyms: ice dwarf, plutoid
- 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Bres:
  A member of the Fomor Belt, Bres is a dwarf planet with no atmosphere.

Usage notes

Whether a dwarf planet is a planet or not depends on one's definition of planet. According to the IAU, a dwarf planet is a sub-planetary object, but to the coiner of the term and many other planetary geologists, a dwarf planet is a planet.

Hyponyms

double dwarf planet
(Inner Solar System): Ceres
(Outer Solar System): Eris, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, possibly also Orcus, Salacia

Related terms

Translations

a type of celestial body

Afrikaans: dwergplaneet (af)
Albanian: planet xhuxh m
Arabic: كَوْكَب قَزَم m (kawkab qazam)
Armenian: գաճաճ մոլորակ (gačač molorak)
Assamese: বাওনা গ্ৰহ (baüna groh)
Asturian: planeta nanu m
Azerbaijani: cırtdan planet
Basque: planeta ipotx, planeta nano
Belarusian: ка́рлікавая плане́та f (kárlikavaja planjéta), ка́рлікавая плянэ́та f (kárlikavaja pljanéta)
Bengali: বামন গ্রহ (bamon groho)
Breton: planedenn-gorr f, korrblanedenn f
Bulgarian: плане́та джудже́ f (planéta džudžé)
Burmese: လူပုဂြိုလ် (lupu.gruil)
Catalan: planeta nan m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 矮行星 (ai² hang⁴ sing¹, ai² haang⁴ sing¹)

Hokkien: 矮惑星 (é-he̍k-chheⁿ), 矮行星 (é-hêng-seng)

Mandarin: 矮行星 (zh) (ǎixíngxīng)
Chuvash: карлик планета (karlik planet̬a)
Cornish: planet korr
Czech: trpasličí planeta f
Danish: dværgplanet c
Dutch: dwergplaneet (nl) f
Esperanto: nanplanedo
Estonian: kääbusplaneet
Finnish: kääpiöplaneetta (fi)
French: planète naine (fr) f
Galician: planeta anano (gl) m
Georgian: ჯუჯა პლანეტა (ǯuǯa ṗlaneṭa)
German: Zwergplanet (de) m
Greek: πλανήτης νάνος (el) m (planítis nános)
Hindi: बौना ग्रह m (baunā grah)
Hungarian: törpebolygó (hu)
Icelandic: dvergreikistjarna (is) f
Indonesian: planet kerdil, planet katai
Interlingua: planeta nano
Irish: abhacphláinéad m
Italian: pianeta nano (it) m
Japanese: 準惑星 (ja) (じゅんわくせい, junwakusei) (official), 矮惑星 (ja) (わいわくせい, waiwakusei) (temporary)
Kabyle: amtiweg agezlan
Kazakh: ергежейлі планета (ergejeilı planeta)
Khmer: ភពក្រិន (phɔɔp krən)
Korean: 왜행성(矮行星) (ko) (waehaengseong)
Kyrgyz: эргежээл планета (ergejeel planeta), карлик планета (karlik planeta)
Lao: ດາວເຄາະແຈ້ (dāo khǫ chǣ), ດາວເຄາະແຄະ (dāo khǫ khæ)
Latvian: pundurplanēta f
Limburgish: dwergplaneet (li)
Lithuanian: nykštukinė planeta f
Low German:
East Frisian Low German: dwaarğpleneet m

German Low German: Dwargplaneet
Luxembourgish: Zwergplanéit m
Macedonian: џуџеста планета f (džudžesta planeta)
Malay: planet kerdil (ms)
Manx: planaid crivassanagh
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: одой гариг (odoj garig), одой гараг (odoj garag)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: dvergplanet m

Nynorsk: dvergplanet m
Persian:
Iranian Persian: سَیَّارِهٔ کوتولِه (sayyâre-ye kutule)
Polish: planeta karłowata (pl) f
Portuguese: planeta anão (pt) m
Romanian: planetă pitică f
Russian: ка́рликовая плане́та f (kárlikovaja planéta)
Scottish Gaelic: fo-phlanaid f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: патуљаста планета f

Latin: patuljasta planeta f, (Croatian) patuljasti planet m
Sicilian: pianeta nanu m
Slovak: trpasličia planéta f
Slovene: pritlikavi planet m
Spanish: planeta enano m
Swahili: sayari kibete
Swedish: dvärgplanet (sv) c
Tagalog: planetang unano
Tajik: сайёраи карлик (sayyora-yi karlik)
Tatar: кәрлә планета (kärlä planeta)
Telugu: మరుగుజ్జు గ్రహం (marugujju grahaṁ)
Thai: ดาวเคราะห์แคระ (daao-krɔ́-krɛ́)
Turkish: cüce gezegen (tr)
Turkmen: kiçi planeta
Ukrainian: ка́рликова плане́та f (kárlykova planéta)
Urdu: بَونا سَیّارَہ m (baunā saiyāra)
Uyghur: پەتەك يۇلتۇز (petek yultuz)
Uzbek: karlik sayyora
Vietnamese: hành tinh lùn
Welsh: corblaned f