nebula

English

An emission nebula

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nebula (“little cloud, mist”). Akin to Ancient Greek νεφέλη (nephélē, “cloud”), German Nebel (“mist, nebula”), Old Norse nifl, Polish niebo (“sky, heaven”), Russian не́бо (nébo, “sky”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: neb'jə-lə, IPA^(key): /ˈnɛbjʊlə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

nebula (plural nebulae or nebulas or (obsolete) nebulæ)

1. (astronomy) A cloud in outer space consisting of gas or dust (e.g. a cloud formed after a star explodes).

   Hyponyms: emission nebula, pulsar wind nebula, supernova remnant

   • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

     Approximately 5 billion years ago, our solar nebula was formed as gravitational forces pulled interstellar gas and dust into a swirling mass around out newly formed sun.

2. (archaic, medicine) A white spot or slight opacity of the cornea.
3. (obsolete, medicine) A cloudy appearance in the urine.

Derived terms

• Crab Nebula
• dark nebula
• diffuse nebula
• emission nebula
• planetary nebula
• preplanetary nebula
• protoplanetary nebula
• pulsar wind nebula
• reflection nebula
• solar nebula
• stellar nebula

 

Related terms

• nebulosity
• nebulous
• nebular

Translations

a space cloud

• Albanian: nebulozë (sq) f, mjegullnajë (sq) f
• Arabic: سَدِيم m (sadīm)

  Egyptian Arabic: سديم m (sadīm)

• Armenian: միգամածություն (hy) (migamacutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: dumanlıq
• Basque: nebulosa (eu)
• Belarusian: тума́ннасць f (tumánnascʹ)
• Bengali: নীহারিকা (bn) (niharika)
• Bulgarian: мъглявина́ (bg) f (mǎgljaviná)
• Burmese: နက်ဗျူလာ (nakbyula)
• Catalan: nebulosa f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 星雲／星云 (sing¹ wan⁴)

  Mandarin: 星雲／星云 (zh) (xīngyún)

• Cornish: niwlen ster f
• Czech: mlhovina (cs) f
• Danish: stjernetåge c
• Dutch: nevelvlek (nl) f
• Esperanto: nebulozo
• Estonian: udukogu
• Faroese: stjørnutoka f
• Finnish: kaasusumu, tähtisumu (fi), nebula (fi)
• French: nébuleuse (fr)
• Galician: nebulosa (gl) f
• Georgian: ნისლეული (nisleuli)
• German: Nebel (de) m, Wolke (de) f
• Greek: νεφέλωμα (el) n (neféloma)

  Ancient: νεφέλιον n (nephélion)

• Gujarati: નિહારિકા f (nihārikā), નેબ્યુલા (nebyulā)
• Hebrew: עַרְפִלִּית / ערפילית (he) f (arpilit)
• Hindi: निहारिका (hi) f (nihārikā), नीहारिका (hi) f (nīhārikā)
• Hungarian: csillagköd (hu), nebula (hu)
• Icelandic: stjörnuþoka (is) f
• Ido: nebulozo (io)
• Indonesian: nebula (id)
• Interlingua: nebulosa
• Irish: réaltnéal m
• Italian: nebulosa (it) f
• Japanese: 星雲 (ja) (せいうん, seiun)
• Kannada: ನೀಹಾರಿಕೆ (kn) (nīhārike)
• Kazakh: тұмандық (tūmandyq)
• Khmer: នេប៊ូឡា (neibuulaa), ណេប៊ុយឡា (neebuylaa)
• Korean: 성운(星雲) (ko) (seong'un)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: nebuloz

• Kyrgyz: тумандуулук (tumanduuluk)
• Latin: nebula f
• Latvian: miglājs m
• Lithuanian: ū̃kas m
• Macedonian: маглина f (maglina)
• Malay: nebula
• Malayalam: നീഹാരിക (ml) (nīhārika)
• Maori: puehu tuarangi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: мананцар (mn) (manancar)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stjernetåke m or f

  Nynorsk: stjernetåke f

• Persian: سحابی (fa) (sahâbi), میغ‌واره (miğ-vâre)
• Polish: mgławica (pl) f
• Portuguese: nebulosa (pt) f, nébula f
• Romanian: nebuloasă (ro) f
• Russian: тума́нность (ru) f (tumánnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̀глина f, ма̀глица f

  Roman: màglina (sh) f, màglica (sh) f

• Slovak: hmlovina f
• Slovene: meglíca f, nébula f
• Spanish: nebulosa (es) f
• Swedish: nebulosa (sv) c
• Tagalog: bigha, ulanag, nebula
• Tajik: меғвора (meġvora), туманот (tumanot)
• Tamil: நெபுலா (nepulā)
• Thai: เนบิวลา (th) (nee-biu-lâa)
• Turkish: nebula (tr)
• Turkmen: dumanlyk
• Ukrainian: тума́нність f (tumánnistʹ)
• Urdu: صَحابِیَہ (sahābiya), سَدِیم (sadīm)
• Uzbek: tumanlik (uz)
• Vietnamese: tinh vân (vi) (星雲)
• Volapük: silefog
• Welsh: nifiwl m

See also

• plerion
• nova remnant
• supernova remnant
• Herbig-Haro object
• Bok globule
• interstellar cloud
• intergalactic cloud
• high velocity cloud

Anagrams

• Buelna, Nabeul, unable, unbale

Finnish

Etymology

Latin nebula

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnebulɑ/, [ˈne̞bulɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ebulɑ
• Syllabification^(key): ne‧bu‧la

Noun

nebula

1. Synonym of tähtisumu

Declension

Inflection of nebula (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		nebula	nebulat
genitive		nebulan	nebuloiden nebuloitten
partitive		nebulaa	nebuloita
illative		nebulaan	nebuloihin
		singular	plural
nominative		nebula	nebulat
accusative	nom.	nebula	nebulat
	gen.	nebulan
genitive		nebulan	nebuloiden nebuloitten nebulain rare
partitive		nebulaa	nebuloita
inessive		nebulassa	nebuloissa
elative		nebulasta	nebuloista
illative		nebulaan	nebuloihin
adessive		nebulalla	nebuloilla
ablative		nebulalta	nebuloilta
allative		nebulalle	nebuloille
essive		nebulana	nebuloina
translative		nebulaksi	nebuloiksi
abessive		nebulatta	nebuloitta
instructive		—	nebuloin
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of nebula (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative nebulani nebulani accusative nom. nebulani nebulani gen. nebulani genitive nebulani nebuloideni nebuloitteni nebulaini rare partitive nebulaani nebuloitani inessive nebulassani nebuloissani elative nebulastani nebuloistani illative nebulaani nebuloihini adessive nebulallani nebuloillani ablative nebulaltani nebuloiltani allative nebulalleni nebuloilleni essive nebulanani nebuloinani translative nebulakseni nebuloikseni abessive nebulattani nebuloittani instructive — — comitative — nebuloineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative nebulasi nebulasi accusative nom. nebulasi nebulasi gen. nebulasi genitive nebulasi nebuloidesi nebuloittesi nebulaisi rare partitive nebulaasi nebuloitasi inessive nebulassasi nebuloissasi elative nebulastasi nebuloistasi illative nebulaasi nebuloihisi adessive nebulallasi nebuloillasi ablative nebulaltasi nebuloiltasi allative nebulallesi nebuloillesi essive nebulanasi nebuloinasi translative nebulaksesi nebuloiksesi abessive nebulattasi nebuloittasi instructive — — comitative — nebuloinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative nebulamme nebulamme accusative nom. nebulamme nebulamme gen. nebulamme genitive nebulamme nebuloidemme nebuloittemme nebulaimme rare partitive nebulaamme nebuloitamme inessive nebulassamme nebuloissamme elative nebulastamme nebuloistamme illative nebulaamme nebuloihimme adessive nebulallamme nebuloillamme ablative nebulaltamme nebuloiltamme allative nebulallemme nebuloillemme essive nebulanamme nebuloinamme translative nebulaksemme nebuloiksemme abessive nebulattamme nebuloittamme instructive — — comitative — nebuloinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative nebulanne nebulanne accusative nom. nebulanne nebulanne gen. nebulanne genitive nebulanne nebuloidenne nebuloittenne nebulainne rare partitive nebulaanne nebuloitanne inessive nebulassanne nebuloissanne elative nebulastanne nebuloistanne illative nebulaanne nebuloihinne adessive nebulallanne nebuloillanne ablative nebulaltanne nebuloiltanne allative nebulallenne nebuloillenne essive nebulananne nebuloinanne translative nebulaksenne nebuloiksenne abessive nebulattanne nebuloittanne instructive — — comitative — nebuloinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative nebulansa nebulansa accusative nom. nebulansa nebulansa gen. nebulansa genitive nebulansa nebuloidensa nebuloittensa nebulainsa rare partitive nebulaansa nebuloitaan nebuloitansa inessive nebulassaan nebulassansa nebuloissaan nebuloissansa elative nebulastaan nebulastansa nebuloistaan nebuloistansa illative nebulaansa nebuloihinsa adessive nebulallaan nebulallansa nebuloillaan nebuloillansa ablative nebulaltaan nebulaltansa nebuloiltaan nebuloiltansa allative nebulalleen nebulallensa nebuloilleen nebuloillensa essive nebulanaan nebulanansa nebuloinaan nebuloinansa translative nebulakseen nebulaksensa nebuloikseen nebuloiksensa abessive nebulattaan nebulattansa nebuloittaan nebuloittansa instructive — — comitative — nebuloineen nebuloinensa

Interlingua

Noun

nebula (plural nebulas)

1. fog, mist, haze
2. (pathology) nebula

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nebula. Doublet of nebbia, which was inherited.

Noun

nebula f (plural nebule)

1. (archaic) fog, mist; cloud
2. nebula

Related terms

• nebbia
• nebulizzare
• nebulosa

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *neβelā, from Proto-Indo-European *nébʰos (“cloud”). Cognate with Ancient Greek νέφος (néphos), νεφέλη (nephélē), Old High German nebul, Sanskrit नभस् (nábhas), Old Church Slavonic небо (nebo). Note that despite similar pronunciation and semantics, not related to nūbēs (“cloud”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈne.bu.la/, [ˈnɛbʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.bu.la/, [ˈnɛːbulä]

Noun

nebula f (genitive nebulae); first declension

1. fog
2. cloud
3. vapor
4. nebula

Declension

First-declension noun

	singular	plural
nominative	nebula	nebulae
genitive	nebulae	nebulārum
dative	nebulae	nebulīs
accusative	nebulam	nebulās
ablative	nebulā	nebulīs
vocative	nebula	nebulae

Synonyms

• cālīgō

Derived terms

• nebulōsus

Descendants

• Aromanian: negurã, negure
• Catalan: neula
• Franco-Provençal: niola
  • French: nieule or nieulle (dialectal), niolu, niolerie
• Galician: nebra
• Italian: nebbia
• Occitan: nèbla
• Old Galician-Portuguese: nevoa
  • Galician: néboa
  • Portuguese: névoa (see there for further descendants)
• Romanian: negură
• Romansch: nebla, neabla
• Sardinian: nébida, neula
• Sicilian: negghia, nìvula
• Spanish: niebla, ⇒ neblina
• Venetan: nebia, nibia
• Borrowings:
  • → English: nebula
  • → Italian: nebula
  • → Portuguese: nébula
  • → Translingual: Nebula

References

• “nebula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nebula”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nebula in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• nebula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.