An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

1) Characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women.
2) Of, relating to, or constituting the gender that ordinarily includes most words or grammatical forms referring to females (Merriam-Webster.com).

M.E. feminin, from O.Fr. femenin "feminine, female; with feminine qualities," from L. femininus "feminine," from femina "woman, female," literally "she who suckles," from root of felare "to suck, suckle;" cf. Gk. thele "mother's breast, nipple," thelys "female, fruitful;" Pers. dâyé, dâyah "(wet-nurse);" PIE root *d^he(i)- "to suck, suckle."

Mâdin, from mâdé, → female.

A → cardinal number between → eight and → ten.

M.E., from O.E. nigen, nigan, nigon, akin to M.Du. neghen, Du. negen, O.H.G. niun, Ger. neun, Goth. niun "nine," Pers. noh, as below; from PIE *newn "nine."

Noh, from Mid.Pers. nô; Av. nava; cognate with Skt. nava-; Gk. ennea; L. novem.

A hypothetical large planet in the far outer → solar system the gravitational effects of which would explain the unexpected orbital configuration of a group of → trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Trujillo & Sheppard (2014) noticed a clustering of the → argument of perihelion of bodies lying beyond ~150 → astronomical unit (AU), and attributed this to a hypothetical super-Earth body lying at several hundred AUs. Batygin & Brown (2016) showed numerically and analytically how the apsidal and nodal clustering of the distant TNOs arises as a result of resonant and secular dynamical effects from a distant perturber. They identified a range of semimajor axes (400-1500 AU) and eccentricities (0.5-0.8) for which a distant planet can explain the → orbital elements of the distant TNOs. The predicted planet would have a mass of 10 Earths (approximately 5,000 times the mass of → Pluto), a diameter of four times Earth and a highly elliptical orbit with an → orbital period of approximately 15,000 years.

→ planet; → nine.