That Word You Heard: Terminator

A timetraveling cyborg on a murder mission may be the 1st issue that will come to thoughts when you hear this phrase, but a terminator in astronomy is significantly considerably less violent than one in the motion pictures. Instead of destroying, it divides: specifically, the illuminated and unilluminated pieces of a satellite or celestial physique, like the moon. The phrase has its roots in division, originating from the name Terminus, the Roman god of boundaries. But like the moon, the phrase has a dim facet as very well — though it wasn’t until finally the twentieth century that termination was utilised to explain acts like murder.


This tale appeared in the Could 2020 challenge. Subscribe to Learn journal for far more tales like this.