gas giant

English

Etymology

Coined by American science fiction author James Blish in a rewritten reprinting of his 1941 short story "Solar Plexus" in the 1952 anthology Beyond Human Ken.

Noun

gas giant (plural gas giants)

1. (astronomy) A large planet composed mostly of gaseous hydrogen and helium, along with methane and ammonia; possibly with a solid core.
   • 1954, James Blish, “Solar Plexus”, in Beyond Human Ken, Random House, page 106:

     A quick glance over the boards revealed that there was a magnetic field of some strength near by, one that didn't belong to the invisible gas giant revolving half a million miles away.

   • 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184:

     In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.

Synonyms

• Jovian planet
• gas giant planet

Hypernyms

• giant planet

Hyponyms

• Jupiter
• Saturn

Coordinate terms

• terrestrial planet
  • silicate planet / silicon planet
  • carbide planet / carbon planet
• major planet

Related terms

• ice giant

Translations

large planet of gas

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 氣態巨行星／气态巨行星 (qìtài jùxíngxīng), 气态巨行星 (qìtài jùxíngxīng)

• Esperanto: gasogiganto
• Finnish: kaasujättiläinen
• French: géante gazeuse (fr) f
• German: Gasriese (de) m, Gasplanet (de) m
• Hungarian: gázóriás (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 巨大ガス惑星 (kyodai gasu wakusei)
• Portuguese: gigante gasoso m
• Russian: га́зовый гига́нт m (gázovyj gigánt), га́зовая плане́та f (gázovaja planéta)
• Slovene: plínski velikán m
• Spanish: gigante gaseoso (es) m
• Swahili: pandikizi la gesi

See also

• dwarf planet
• minor planet
• Neptune (ice giant)
• Uranus (ice giant)

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “gas giant”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 75–76.
• Template:R:OED SF