Meanings
- A placename.
- astronomyThe first generally accepted and confirmed black hole. A black hole in a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) with a blue supergiant companion (HD 226868), located in the constellation Cygnus.
Synonyms: Cyg X-1
- astronomyThe high-mass X-ray binary star system containing this black hole and blue supergiant star.
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe first generally accepted and confirmed black hole. A black hole in a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) with a blue supergiant companion (HD 226868), located in the constellation Cygnus.
Origin
From Cygnus + X + 1. From being the first discovered discrete astronomical X-ray source (an X-ray star) located in the constellation of Cygnus.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Cygnus X-1. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cygnus%20X-1
“Cygnus X-1.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cygnus%20X-1. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cygnus X-1,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cygnus%20X-1.
Source: Cygnus X-1 on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.