aphelion
/əˈfiː.lɪ.ən/
"aphelion" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“aphelion” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is farthest from the Sun.
Corpus desk
Index EN-aphelion · aphelion · English
aphelion · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | aphelion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈfiː.lɪ.ən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “aphelion” in English
Rare enough to double-check
aphelion is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˈfiː.lɪ.ən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is farthest from the Sun.".
Zero misspellings are on record for aphelion in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin aphēlium (whence English aphelium, now displaced) + -ion (used in the names of other apsides). Aphelium was formed from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, prefix meaning ‘away, from, off’) + ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-Europe… The correct English form is aphelion, spelled A-P-H-E-L-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The point in the elliptical orbit of a comet, planet, or other astronomical object, where it is farthest from the Sun.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how aphelion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[I]t follows from the theory of gravity, that the aphelia of Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, slightly progress.
Etymology
From New Latin aphēlium (whence English aphelium, now displaced) + -ion (used in the names of other apsides). Aphelium was formed from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, prefix meaning ‘away, from, off’) + ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)), modelled after New Latin apogaeum (“apogee”). The plural form aphelia is from aphelion + -a (plural form of the suffix -on).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.