orbital

See also: Orbital

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin orbitālis, from orbita (“a track or rut; a circuit, orbit”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent to orbit +‎ -al. Doublet of orbitalis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔː.bɪt.əl/, /ɔː.bɪt.l̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɹ.bət.l̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)bɪtəl

Adjective

orbital (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to, or forming an orbit (such as the orbit of a moon, planet, or spacecraft).
2. (anatomy) Of or relating to the eye socket (eyehole).
3. (chiefly UK) (of roads, railways) Passing around the outside of an urban area.

   The M25 is an orbital motorway around London.

   • 2019 October 23, Rail, pages 22, 23:

     The rail orbital routes outside of the M25 and South Coast are challenging. The corridors aren't particularly reliable, and in some places they don't exist. [...] But the reliability and journey times, particularly on the orbital routes: one train an hour from Gatwick Airport to Reading? Surely we can do better than that?

Derived terms

• anteorbital, antorbital
• biorbital
• circumorbital
• coorbital
• cranioorbital
• exorbital
• extraorbital
• frontoorbital
• infraorbital
• interorbital
• maxilloorbital
• midorbital
• multiorbital
• nonorbital
• ocellorbital
• orbital apex syndrome
• orbital cavity
• orbital defense platform
• orbital element
• orbital fissure
• orbital forming
• orbital index
• orbitally
• orbital mechanics
• orbital motorway
• orbital plane
• orbital process
• orbital ridge
• orbital riveting
• orbital sander
• orbital symmetry
• orbital velocity
• orbito-
• paraorbital
• periorbital
• postorbital
• preorbital
• retro-orbital, retroorbital
• sidereal orbital period
• sphenoorbital, sphenorbital
• suborbital
• superorbital
• supraorbital
• temporoorbital
• transorbital
• zygomatico-orbital, zygomaticoorbital

 

Translations

of or relating to an orbit

• Bulgarian: орбитален (orbitalen)
• Catalan: orbital (ca)
• Esperanto: orbita
• French: orbital (fr)
• German: orbital (de)
• Ido: orbitala (io)
• Italian: orbitale (it)
• Polish: orbitalny (pl)
• Portuguese: orbital
• Romanian: orbital (ro)
• Russian: орбита́льный (ru) (orbitálʹnyj)
• Spanish: orbital (es), orbitario

of or relating to the eye socket

• Bulgarian: на очната кухина (na očnata kuhina)
• Catalan: orbital (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 眼眶的 (zh) (yǎnkuàng de, (Taiwan) yǎnkuāng de), 眶的 (zh) (kuàng de, (Taiwan) kuāng de)

• Dutch: orbitaal (nl)
• French: orbital (fr), orbitaire (fr)
• German: orbital (de)
• Ido: orbitala (io)
• Italian: orbitale (it)
• Polish: orbitalny (pl), oczodołowy (pl)
• Portuguese: orbital
• Russian: глазни́чный (ru) (glazníčnyj), орбита́льный (ru) (orbitálʹnyj)
• Spanish: orbital (es), orbitario
• Swedish: orbital (sv)

Noun

orbital (plural orbitals)

1. (physics) A specification of the energy and probability density of one or more electrons at any point in an atom or molecule, and can be represented as a wave function.

   Hyponyms: antibonding orbital, atomic orbital, bonding orbital, hybrid orbital, frontier orbital, molecular orbital

2. (chiefly UK) Ellipsis of orbital motorway.
3. Short for orbital sander.
   • 1967, Popular Mechanics, volume 128, number 6, page 166:

     As with most power tools, orbitals can be divided into light and heavy-duty categories.

Derived terms

• inner orbital complex
• intraorbital
• molecular orbital theory
• orbital quantum number

Translations

energy and probability density

• Bulgarian: орбитала f (orbitala)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 軌道 / 轨道 (zh) (guǐdào), 軌函 / 轨函 (guǐhán), 軌域 / 轨域 (guǐyù) (Taiwan)

• Dutch: orbitaal (nl) c
• French: orbitale (fr) f
• German: Orbital (de) n
• Irish: fithiseán m
• Japanese: 軌道 (ja) (きどう, kidō)
• Kazakh: орбиталь (orbital)
• Khmer: អរប៊ីតាល់ (ʼɑɑbiital)
• Korean: 궤도(軌道) (ko) (gwedo)
• Polish: orbital (pl) m
• Portuguese: orbital f
• Russian: орбита́ль (ru) f (orbitálʹ)
• Slovene: orbitala f
• Spanish: orbital (es) m
• Tagalog: ligiranan
• Turkish: orbital (tr)
• Vietnamese: obitan, đám mây, quỹ vực, orbital (vi)

See also

• quantum number

References

• “orbital”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “orbital”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• tar boil, tar-boil

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ur.biˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [or.biˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [oɾ.biˈtal]

Adjective

orbital m or f (masculine and feminine plural orbitals)

1. orbital (of or relating to an orbit)

Related terms

• òrbita
• orbitari

Further reading

• “orbital” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

From orbite +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁ.bi.tal/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

orbital (feminine orbitale, masculine plural orbitaux, feminine plural orbitales)

1. orbital

Further reading

• “orbital”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Adjective

orbital m or f (plural orbitais)

1. orbital

Related terms

• órbita
• orbitar

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁbɪˈtaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

orbital (strong nominative masculine singular orbitaler, not comparable)

1. orbital

Declension

Positive forms of orbital (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist orbital	sie ist orbital	es ist orbital	sie sind orbital
strong declension (without article)	nominative	orbitaler	orbitale	orbitales	orbitale
	genitive	orbitalen	orbitaler	orbitalen	orbitaler
	dative	orbitalem	orbitaler	orbitalem	orbitalen
	accusative	orbitalen	orbitale	orbitales	orbitale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der orbitale	die orbitale	das orbitale	die orbitalen
	genitive	des orbitalen	der orbitalen	des orbitalen	der orbitalen
	dative	dem orbitalen	der orbitalen	dem orbitalen	den orbitalen
	accusative	den orbitalen	die orbitale	das orbitale	die orbitalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein orbitaler	eine orbitale	ein orbitales	(keine) orbitalen
	genitive	eines orbitalen	einer orbitalen	eines orbitalen	(keiner) orbitalen
	dative	einem orbitalen	einer orbitalen	einem orbitalen	(keinen) orbitalen
	accusative	einen orbitalen	eine orbitale	ein orbitales	(keine) orbitalen

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /oʁ.biˈtaw/ [oɦ.biˈtaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /oʁ.biˈtaw/ [oɦ.biˈtaʊ̯]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /oɾ.biˈtaw/ [oɾ.biˈtaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /oʁ.biˈtaw/ [oʁ.biˈtaʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /oɻ.biˈtaw/ [oɻ.biˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔɾ.biˈtal/ [ɔɾ.βiˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔɾ.biˈtal/ [ɔɾ.βiˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔɾ.biˈta.li/ [ɔɾ.βiˈta.li]

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: or‧bi‧tal

Adjective

orbital m or f (plural orbitais, not comparable)

1. (astrophysics) orbital (of or relating to an orbit)
2. (anatomy) orbital (of or relating to the eye socket)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French orbital. By surface analysis, orbită +‎ -al.

Adjective

orbital m or n (feminine singular orbitală, masculine plural orbitali, feminine and neuter plural orbitale)

1. orbital

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	orbital		orbitală		orbitali	orbitale
	definite	orbitalul		orbitala		orbitalii	orbitalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	orbital		orbitale		orbitali	orbitale
	definite	orbitalului		orbitalei		orbitalilor	orbitalelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oɾbiˈtal/ [oɾ.β̞iˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: or‧bi‧tal

Adjective

orbital m or f (masculine and feminine plural orbitales)

1. orbital (of or relating to an orbit)

   Synonym: orbitario

2. (anatomy) orbital (of or relating to the eye socket)

   Synonym: orbitario

Derived terms

• suborbital

 

Related terms

• órbita
• orbitar
• orbitario

 

Noun

orbital m (plural orbitales)

1. (chemistry) orbital

Further reading

• “orbital”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10