The space above the Earth that you see when you look up, where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds appear. It can also mean the air or atmosphere around our planet.
“Sky” comes from Old Norse “ský,” meaning “cloud.” Old English originally used “heofon” (heaven) for what we now call the sky. Over time “sky” took over the everyday meaning of the visible air above us.
The word for “sky” used to be much closer to “heaven,” blending the physical and the spiritual. When “sky” took over from “heaven,” English quietly separated the scientific view from the religious one. You can still feel that split when people talk about “the heavens” versus “the sky.”
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.