The adjectival forms of the names of astronomical bodies are not always easily predictable. Attested adjectival forms of the larger bodies are listed below, along with the two small Martian moons; in some cases they are accompanied by their

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

ic equivalents, which denote hypothetical inhabitants of these bodies. For Classical (Greco-Roman) names, the adjectival and demonym forms normally derive from the

oblique stem In linguistics, a word stem is a part of a word responsible for its lexical meaning. The term is used with slightly different meanings depending on the morphology of the language in question. In Athabaskan linguistics, for example, a verb stem is ...

, which may differ from the nominative form used in English for the noun form. For instance, for a large portion of names ending in ''-s,'' the oblique stem and therefore the English adjective changes the ''-s'' to a ''-d, -t,'' or ''-r,'' as in Mars–Martian, Pallas–Palladian and Ceres–Cererian;This is reflected in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Паллада ''Pallada'' 'Pallas' and Церера ''Tserera'' 'Ceres', as well as in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

''Pallade'' 'Pallas' and ''Cerere'' 'Ceres', as in these (and several other) languages the nominal forms of the names often also reflect the oblique. This is not always the case, however – for Mars, Italian ''Marte'' parallels the English adjective but Russian Марс ''Mars'' parallels the English noun. occasionally an ''-n'' has been lost historically from the nominative form, and reappears in the oblique and therefor in the English adjective, as in Pluto–Plutonian and Atlas–Atlantean. Many of the more recent or more obscure names are only attested in mythological or literary contexts, rather than in specifically astronomical contexts. Forms ending in ''-ish'' or ''-ine,'' such as "Puckish", are not included below if a derivation in ''-an'' is also attested. Rare forms, or forms only attested with spellings not in keeping with the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

-approved spelling (such as ''c'' for ''k''), are shown in ''italics''. ;Note on pronunciation The suffix ''-ian'' is always unstressed: that is, . The related ending ''-ean'', from an ''e'' in the root plus a suffix ''-an'', has traditionally been stressed (that is, ) if the ''e'' is long ''ē'' in Latin (or is from ''ē'' in Greek); but if the ''e'' is short in Latin, the suffix is pronounced the same as ''-ian''. In practice forms ending in ''-ean'' may be pronounced as if they were spelled ''-ian'' even if the ''e'' is long in Latin. This dichotomy should be familiar from the dual pronunciations of ''Caribbean'' as and .

Generic bodies

Constellations

Derivative forms of constellations are used primarily for

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...

s. The genitive forms of the constellations are used to name stars. (See

List of constellations The following lists of constellations are available: * IAU designated constellations - a list of the current, or "modern", constellations. * Former constellations - a list of former constellations. * Chinese constellations - traditional Chinese ast ...

.) Other adjectival forms are less common.

Sun

Planets

Moons

Galaxies

Notes

References

External links

Wordorigins.org
Naming The Planets, Part I {{DEFAULTSORT:Adjectivals And Demonyms For Astronomical Bodies Astronomical nomenclature Lists of astronomical objects Lists of place names