comet

comet · noun¹

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκομήτης“longhaired”
2. Latin · derived fromcomētēs
3. Old French · derived fromcomete
4. Old English · inherited fromcomēta
5. Middle English · inherited fromcomete
6. English todaycomet

From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the tail of a comet, from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). Compare English faxed star and Latin crīnīta stēlla (“comet”, literally “(long) haired star”).

Comet · proper noun²

First attested in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. From comet.

Comet · proper noun³

Coined by software engineer Alex Russell in March 2006. After the Comet brand of cleaning products, as a pun on Ajax, which is also both a Web programming technique and a brand of cleaning products.