moonlet

M3O1O1N1L1E1T1

noun

a very small body orbiting a planet, often as part of a planetary ring system.

OriginEnglish moon ← Middle English mone ← Old English mōna →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounmoonlet (plural moonlets)

plural moonlets

  1. astronomya very small body orbiting a planet, often as part of a planetary ring system.

    "A moonlet within the ring system will exert a systematic torque on ring material."

    1981, Nature

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*med-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meh₁-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*mḗh₁n̥s
  4. Proto-Germanic*mēnô
  5. Proto-West Germanic*mānō
  6. Old Englishmōna
  7. Middle Englishmone
  8. Englishmoon
  9. Englishmoonlet

From moon + -let.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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