rayleigh

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/ˈreɪli/

noun

A unit of brightness (of the sky at night) equal to 10¹⁰/4π quanta per square meter per second per steradian

Less commonScrabble 15
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Meanings

rayleigh1

nounrayleigh (plural rayleighs)

plural rayleighs

  1. astronomyA unit of brightness (of the sky at night) equal to 10¹⁰/4π quanta per square meter per second per steradian

Rayleigh2

proper noun
  1. A surname.
  2. Lord Rayleigh, English physicist
  3. A town and civil parish with a town council in Rochford district, Essex, England (OS grid ref TQ8090).
  4. A neighbourhood of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, named after the English town.

Origin

rayleigh · noun

For Lord Rayleigh, English physicist

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Rayleigh · proper noun

Of the same origin as Raleigh (which is usually pronounced differently); see Wikipedia at Rayleigh, Essex § Toponymy.

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Cite this entry
APA

rayleigh. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rayleigh

MLA

“rayleigh.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rayleigh. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rayleigh,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rayleigh.

Source: rayleigh on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.