syzygy

English

WOTD – 28 January 2006

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin syzygia (“conjunction”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek συζυγία (suzugía, “union; syzygy”). This word was recognized as English in 1847 (in its astronomical meaning).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪz.ɪdʒ.i/

Noun

syzygy (countable and uncountable, plural syzygies)

1. (astronomy, astrology) A kind of unity, namely an alignment of three celestial bodies (for example, the Sun, Earth, and Moon) such that one body is directly between the other two, such as occurs at an eclipse.
2. (psychology) An archetypal pairing of contrasexual opposites, symbolizing the communication of the conscious and unconscious minds.
3. (mathematics) A relation between generators of a module.
4. (medicine) The fusion of some or all of the organs.
5. (zoology) The association of two protozoa end-to-end or laterally for the purpose of asexual exchange of genetic material.
6. (genetics) The pairing of chromosomes in meiosis.

Translations

astronomical conjunction

• Belarusian: сізігія f (sizihija)
• Catalan: sizígia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 朔望點／朔望点, 朔望点 (Shuòwàng diǎn)

• Danish: syzygie (da) c
• Dutch: syzygie (nl) f
• Esperanto: sizigio (eo)
• French: syzygie (fr) f
• Galician: sicixia f
• German: Syzygie f, Syzygium n
• Greek: συζυγία (el) f (syzygía)

  Ancient: συζυγία f (suzugía)

• Hindi: युति-वियुति (yuti-viyuti)
• Icelandic: raðstaða f, okstaða f
• Ido: sizigio (io)
• Irish: sisige f, sisigí f pl
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sizigia (it) f
• Japanese: 惑星直列, 朔望 (Sakubō)
• Korean: 혹성 직렬 (hokseong jingnyeol), 행성 직렬 (haengseong jingnyeol), 삭망 (sangmang)
• Latin: syzygia f
• Malay: sizigi
• Persian: همیوغی (fa) (hamyūqī)
• Polish: syzygium
• Portuguese: sizígia (pt) f
• Romanian: sizigie (ro) f
• Russian: сизигия (ru) f (sizigija) (sizígiya)
• Spanish: sizigia f
• Swedish: syzygie c, konjunktion (sv) c
• Tamil: இணைவு (ta) (iṇaivu)
• Ukrainian: сизи́гія f (syzýhija)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} conjunctie (nl) f, ^{(please verify)} samenstand m
• French: ^{(please verify)} conjonction (fr) f, ^{(please verify)} rencontre (fr) m
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} kunjunto (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} sizigia (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) Swedish: konjunktion c

See also

• asterism
• occultation