行星 (Chinese)

Where does "行星" come from?

The Chinese term '行星' (xíngxīng) was coined in 1859 by scholars Alexander Wylie and Li Shanlan. It was created specifically for their translation of John Herschel's 'Outlines of Astronomy' to introduce the modern scientific concept of a planet into the Chinese language. The term elegantly combines characters meaning 'moving' and 'star' to describe these wandering celestial bodies.

Full etymology tree

• 行星 (Chinese), 'planet (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 粒 c mn; 個／个 c)'
  • calque planet (English), 'Each of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.'

Descendants and derived words

• 冰巨行星 (Chinese)
• 巨行星 (Chinese)
• 气态巨行星 (Chinese)
• 氣態巨行星 (Chinese)
• 行星系 (Chinese)
• 行星系統 (Chinese)
• 行星系统 (Chinese)
• 行星齒輪 (Chinese)
• 行星齿轮 (Chinese)
• hành tinh (Vietnamese)

Updated June 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris