Cetus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large genus of marine mammals that includes the whale and the narwhal
2. a constellation in the northern sky depicted as a sea monster or whale
3. any significant celestial body in astronomy resembling a large aquatic creature

Etymology: Cetus is the Latin name for a sea monster, and it entered English as the name of a constellation in the southern sky, near Pisces and Aquarius. The Greek original is "ketos," a word for any large sea creature, whale or monster, and the Latin borrowed it directly with the same sense. The myth is familiar from Greek astronomy: the creature was sent by Poseidon to threaten Andromeda, and it was placed among the stars after Perseus defeated it. The word has stayed fixed to its celestial meaning in English, so the monster itself survives mainly in the star pattern. Because the constellation sits in a region with few bright stars, it is easy to overlook, though its outline is traced from the old Greek picture of a creature with a long neck and open jaws.

Synonyms: whale constellation, sea monster