Word.ws English Dictionary

aphelion

Syllables: ap·hel·i·on/əˈfiː.lɪ.ən/US/əˈfi.li.ən/

aphelion noun: the point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is farthest from the Sun.

aphelion: the point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is...
Image: Vitalik1986, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

aphelion (plural aphelia or (deprecated) aphelions)

  1. (also, figuratively) The point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is farthest from the Sun.
    • [I]t follows from the theory of gravity, that the aphelia of Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, slightly progress.1837, William Whewell, “The Inductive Epoch of Newton—Discovery of the Universal Gravitation of Matter, according to the Law of the Inverse Square of the Distance”, in History of the Inductive...
    Antonyms:
    perihelion

aphelion meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic

aphelion in Tamil

சேய்மை நிலை, சேய்மையிடம், ஞாயிற்றுச் சேய்மை நிலை

aphelion in Urdu

اوج شمسی

aphelion in Tagalog

point in the elliptical orbit of a planet where it is farthest from the Sun
higlayo sa Adlaw

aphelion in Arabic

point in the elliptical orbit of a planet where it is farthest from the Sun
أَوْج ʔawj
More languagesFewer languages
aphelion in Persian
اوج خورشیدی owj-e xoršidi
aphelion in Vietnamese
điểm viễn nhật

Antonyms of aphelion

Forms of aphelion

pluralaphelia
plural proscribedaphelions

Origin of aphelion

From New Latin aphēlium (whence English aphelium, now displaced) + -ion (used in the names of other apsides). Aphelium was formed from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, prefix meaning ‘away, from, off’) + ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)), modelled after New Latin apogaeum (“apogee”). The plural form aphelia is from aphelion + -a (plural form of the suffix -on).

Words that rhyme with aphelion

Questions about aphelion

What does aphelion mean?
Aphelion means the point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is farthest from the Sun.
What is aphelion in Tamil?
Aphelion in Tamil is சேய்மை நிலை, சேய்மையிடம், ஞாயிற்றுச் சேய்மை நிலை. See Aphelion meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is aphelion?
Aphelion is a noun.
How do you pronounce aphelion?
Aphelion is pronounced /əˈfiː.lɪ.ən/ (UK).
What is the plural of aphelion?
The plural of aphelion is aphelia.

Words near aphelion in the dictionary

  1. aphelias
  2. aphelinid
  3. aphelinids
  4. aphelinine
  5. aphelinines
  6. aphelion
  7. aphelions
  8. apheliotropic
  9. apheliotropically
  10. apheliotropism
  11. apheliscine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aphelion (page history and authors); aphelion (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); aphelion (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-aphelion.wav.

Cite this entry: “aphelion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aphelion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.