Related to the sun, or powered by the energy from sunlight. It is used in phrases like “solar system” and “solar panels.”
“Solar” comes from Latin “solaris,” from “sol,” meaning “sun.” It entered English through scientific and astronomical writing. The word has kept its clear connection to the sun across many uses.
When you say “solar,” you’re really just saying “sun‑ish” in Latin. The recent boom in solar panels is a linguistic throwback to very old ideas of the sun as a powerful, central force. We just swapped myths of sun gods for math about photons.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.