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
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
Basque: objektu hegalari ezezagun
Catalan: objecte volador no identificat m
Chinese:
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 )
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 )
Icelandic: fljúgandi furðuhlutur (is) m , FFH n ( abbreviation )
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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 )
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
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 ; Oidentifierat flygande objekt , UFO (sv) ( abbreviation )
Tamil: அடையாளம் கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியாத பறக்கும் பொருள் ( aṭaiyāḷam kaṇṭupiṭikka muṭiyāta paṟakkum poruḷ )
Telugu: గుర్తించబడని ఎగురుతున్న వస్తువు ( gurtiñcabaḍani egurutunna vastuvu )
Vietnamese: tàu bay chưa nhận biết , đĩa bay
colloquial: an alien spacecraft