Meanings
plural tellurions · alternative tellarium · alternative tellurian · alternative tellurium
- historicalastronomyAn instrument used to show how the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun cause day and night and the seasons.
2 more examples
The Second Part of this Orrery I call a Tellurian, [...] becauſe it ſhews moſt accurately and evidently all the Phœnomena ariſing from the Annual and Diurnal Motions of the Earth, in a Terreſtrial Globe full Three Inches in a Diameter; upon which all the Parts of the terraqueous Surface are diſtinctly delineated, [...]
1771, Benjamin Martin, “Of the Tellurian”, in The Description and Use of an Orrery of a New Construction, Representing in the Various Parts of Its Machinery All the Motions and Phoenomena of the Planetary System; […], London: Printed for, and sold by the author, […], →OCLC, page 4Among the modern inventions appertaining to astronomy, besides the instruments necessary to correct observation, we may reckon those curious and elegant machines, exhibiting the motions and phenomena of our solar system and its several parts; our orreries, planetariums, tellurians, lunariums, &c., all of which may be considered as extremely interesting and ingenious contrivances.
1823, Edward Nares, “A View of the State of Arts, Sciences, Religion, Laws, Government, &c.”, in [Alexander Fraser Tytler], Thomas Robbins, Tytler’s Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern. […] To which is now Added, A View of the State of Arts, Sciences, Religion, Laws, Government, &c. by the Rev. Edward Nares, D.D. […], Hartford, Conn.: Published by Huntington & Hopkins, →OCLC, page 381
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*telh₂-“ground, bottom”
- Latintellūs“earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land”
- Englishtellurion
From Latin tellūs (“earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“ground, bottom”) + -ion (a Latinate suffix used in place of -ian (suffix meaning ‘one from, belonging to, relating to, or like’)), possibly coined by Benjamin Martin (baptized 1705; died 1782), an English lecturer, lexicographer, and maker of scientific instruments: see the quotation. Piecewise doublet of tellurium.
More words from Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish telluurio
- telluurioinstrument used to show how the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun cause day and night and the seasons
Irish teallúrán
- teallúráninstrument used to show how the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun cause day and night and the seasons
Polish tellurium
- telluriuminstrument used to show how the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun cause day and night and the seasons
Swedish tellurium
- telluriuminstrument used to show how the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun cause day and night and the seasons
Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
tellurion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tellurion
“tellurion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tellurion. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tellurion,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tellurion.
Source: tellurion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.