centaur

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in Greek mythology, a creature with a horse's body and a human head, arms, and torso

   The vase depicts a centaur drawing a bow during a battle.

2. 2
   noun

   an icy small body that orbits the Sun mainly between Jupiter and Neptune

   Astronomers tracked the centaur as it moved through the outer solar system.

From Latin centaurus, from Greek kentauros, the name for one of the mythic horse-human beings associated with Thessaly. The deeper origin of the Greek word is uncertain. Astronomy adopted the name for bodies whose mixed characteristics resemble both asteroids and comets.

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