Other forms: meteors
A meteor is the streak of light when a space rock burns up in our sky. A shooting star, a meteor shower, watch for meteors.
Three words divide the thing neatly: a meteoroid is the rock in space, a meteor is the light it makes burning up, and a meteorite is what reaches the ground. Most are the size of a grain of sand. Showers happen when the earth crosses a comet's dusty trail.
1nounmeteorThe streak of light made by a space rock burning up.
“We saw a bright meteor shoot across the night sky.”
meteor is a light in the sky.
Also accepted in games: shooting star
Greek meteoron means a thing high in the air, from meta plus aeirein, to lift. Meteorology comes from the same lifting.
Ancient Greek
μετέωρον
Latin
meteorum
Middle French
météore
English, today
meteor
Built from
From Middle French météore, from Old French -, from Latin meteorum, from Ancient Greek μετέωρον, from μετέωρος (“raised from the ground, hanging, lofty”), from μετά (“in the midst of, among, between”) (English meta) + ἀείρω (“to lift, to heave, to raise up”). The original sense of “atmospheric phenomenon” gave rise to meteorology, but the meaning of "meteor" is now restricted to extraterrestrial objects burning up as they enter the atmosphere.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA