A rock or particle of debris out in space is called a meteoroid. If it enters the earth’s atmosphere, it’s a called meteor. So why is it called a meteorite when it falls to earth? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Meteor, Meteoroid, Meteorite”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, this is Larry Biggie from Marquette, Michigan.
Hi, Larry. Welcome.
Thank you. I’m a little bit of a nerd, and my question is, this has been bothering me for decades.
If you have a space rock that’s large, it’s called an asteroid.
If it’s smaller, they call it a meteoroid.
When the meteoroid hits the Earth’s surface, it’s called a meteor.
And then when it hits the ground, it becomes a meteorite.
Now, I’ve talked to astronomers and geologists.
Nobody can explain why they have the I-T-E ending to the meteor once it hits the ground.
So it’s the meteoroid in space.
It’s the meteor in the atmosphere and the meteorite once it hits the ground, right?
Correct.
Okay.
Yeah, that I-T-E ending is really diverse.
It can do a lot of different things in language.
It is often used to form the names of minerals, but that’s just about as specific as it gets.
In this particular case, that particular object has transformed by simply being in a new place,
And therefore it earns that new suffix, that I-T-E.
Meteor becomes meteorite, and it suggests to any person who’s kind of intuitively familiar with the morphology of English,
Oh, this must be some kind of mineral or rock, and that’s it.
It’s just pretty vague, I-T-E.
And you’ll find a ton of words in English in an ITE which are kind of a rock, kind of a mineral, some combination.
But it’s not like a formal chemical suffix that specifically says, oh, it contains two atoms of oxygen or something like that.
Yeah. I kind of figured geology was kind of the reason because about 99% of the minerals do end with ITE,
Although the rocks don’t other than granite, which is pronounced differently.
Yeah, granite comes from an Italian word, granito, which means it has grain in it.
It’s grainy.
Yeah.
Very good.
So, Larry, I hope that helps you a little bit.
I won’t try and change it.
Okay.
All right, take care, Larry.
All right, Larry.
Always good to hear from a fellow nerd.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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