periapsis
noun
periapsis is spelled P-E-R-I-A-P-S-I-S: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, periapsis means “The point of a body's (elliptical) orbit in a 2-body gravitational system such that the distance between the two bodies (measured from their…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of periapsis is periapsides or periapsises.
How many letters and syllables are in periapsis?
| Letters | 9: P-E-R-I-A-P-S-I-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 30 million words; the 165,739th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is periapsis?
Periapsis appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th 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).
How do you pronounce periapsis?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-periapsis.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of periapsis
- periapsides plural
- periapsises plural
- periapses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does periapsis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The point of a body's (elliptical) orbit in a 2-body gravitational system such that the distance between the two bodies (measured from their respective centres of mass) is at its minimum.
- 2
The minimum distance between the two bodies in such a system.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Periapsis in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | périapse, périapside |
| Portuguese | periapside |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does periapsis come from?
From peri- + apsis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).