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

1) Physical or corporeal substance in general, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, especially as distinguished from incorporeal substance, as spirit or mind, or from qualities, actions, and the like.
2) Whatever has size and shape, is solid and tangible, takes up space.
3) Anything that contains mass. → material.

M.E. mater(e), materie, from O.Fr. mat(i)ere, materie, from L. materia "substance from which something is made," also "hard inner wood of a tree," from mater, → mother, PIE base *mater-, see below.

Mâddé, variant mâyé "substance, essence; quantity, amount;" Mid.Pers. mâtak/mâdak "substance, the essential element of anything; materials" (Sogd. patmâδé "matter, substance"), from mât, mâd "mother; substance" (see E. matter, as above), from O.Pers./Av. mātar- "mother;" cf. Ossetic mad/madae "mother;" Khotanese mâta "mother;" Skt. mātár- "mother;" Gk. meter, mater; L. mater (Fr. mère, Sp. madre); O.E. môdor from P.Gmc. *mothær (O.S. modar, Dan. moder, Du. moeder, Ger. Mutter); Lith. mote "wife."
Note: Ar. mâddat is borrowed from Mid.Pers. mâdak, as above, and Arabicized through association with madda "to extend."

A critical change in the history of the Universe, which occurred after the radiation era, when the density of energy contained within matter exceeded the density of energy contained within radiation. This transition started about 5000 years after the Big Bang, when the temperature had fallen to 3 x 10⁴ K. Later, 380 000 years after the Big Bang, when the temperature was 3000 K, matter and radiation were no longer coupled together and the Universe became transparent.

→ matter; → era.

A Universe in which the matter energy density (Ω_m ≈ 1) provides most of the total energy density. According to the → Big Bang model, in the early history of the → Universe a → radiation-dominated phase preceded the matter-dominated phase. This phase is characterized by R/R₀ ∝ t^2/3, where R is the → cosmic scale factor and t is time.

→ matter; → dominate; → Universe.

→ Dark matter composed of → non-baryonic particles.

→ non-; → baryonic; → dark; → matter.

Matter that, unlike the ordinary matter, is not made of baryons (including the neutrons and protons). It is proposed as a possible constituent of dark matter.

→ non-; → baryonic matter.

Not ordinary matter. Same as → dark matter.

→ non-; → luminous; → matter.

Matter whose density exceeds a reference level.

→ over-; → dense; → matter.

Meteorology: A complex → mixture of → microscopic → particles and → liquid droplets suspended in the → atmosphere, especially pollutants.

→ particulate; → matter.