English Explanatory Dictionary

Alkaid

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A star in the constellation of Ursa Major, the easternmost star of the Plough.

Word forms

Alkaid

Etymology

From Arabic القَائِدُ لبَنَاتِ النَعْش (“the leader of the girls at the bier”), from قَائِد (qāʔid, “leader”) + بَنَات (banāt) plural of بِنْت (bint, “girl”) + نَعْش (naʕš, “bier”). With reference to the mourners at the funeral of Calypso (who became the Great Bear). Doublet of alcaide and caid.

Synonyms

Eta Ursae Majoris Benetnash
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on A Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary