zero gravity

English

Alternative forms

• zero-gravity

Etymology

Coined by Austro-Hungarian-American artist Jack Binder in his 1938 picture feature "If Science Reached the Earth's Core", printed in the October 1938 issue of the science-fiction pulp-magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories as part of a series of similar "If—" articles.

Noun

zero gravity (uncountable)

1. The state of apparent weightlessness which occurs in a very low gravity field, or in free fall.
   • 1938 October, Jack Binder, “If Science Reached the Earth's Core”, in Thrilling Wonder Stories, volume 12, number 2, page 9:

     Starting at the zero-gravity of earth's core, accumulative acceleration is easily built up in a four-thousand-mile tube.

   • 1968, William J. Masica, “Zero-Gravity Effects”, in Nasa Technical Memorandum, page 3:

     A gravity-free world, or zero gravity, or weightlessness is ... a relative thing.

   • 2015, James Buckley Jr., Home Address, ISS:

     The tricky part is dressing while floating in zero gravity!

Synonyms

• microgravity
• weightlessness
• zero g, zero-g
• zero G, zero-G
• zero gee, zero-gee

Translations

state of weightlessness

• Catalan: gravitat zero f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 零重力 (língzhònglì)

• Czech: stav beztíže m
• Faroese: tyngdarloysi n
• Finnish: painottomuus (fi), nollapainovoima
• French: gravité zéro f
• German: Schwerelosigkeit (de) f
• Greek: μηδέν βαρύτητα f (midén varýtita)
• Italian: assenza di gravità f
• Japanese: 無重力 (ja) (Mujūryoku)
• Portuguese: gravidade zero f
• Russian: невесо́мость (ru) f (nevesómostʹ)
• Spanish: gravedad cero m, ingravidez (es) f
• Ukrainian: неваго́мість f (nevahómistʹ)

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “zero gravity”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “zero-gravity n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.