ansa
/ˈæn.sə/noun, adjective
ansa is a noun meaning “The most protruding part of planetary rings as seen from a distance, perceived to project like handles on either side of the disc of the planet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-N-S-A and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 7 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of ansa is ansae.
What does ansa mean?
noun
- 1
The most protruding part of planetary rings as seen from a distance, perceived to project like handles on either side of the disc of the planet.
- 2
A loop-shaped structure.
adjective
- 1
Being or relating to an ansa compound.
ansa-metallocene
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce ansa?
- /ˈæn.sə/
Ansa has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-ansa.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ansa
- ansae plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is ansa?
Ansa appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Where does ansa come from?
Borrowed from Latin ānsa (“a handle, haft”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).