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• centaur
  centaur

  noun

  one of a race of creatures having the head, trunk, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse.
• Centaur
  Centaur

  Any of a group of icy bodies similar to both asteroids and comets, orbiting the Sun in elliptical paths mostly in the region between Saturn and Neptune. Centaurs range in diameter from around 100 to 400 km (62 to 248 mi) and are believed to be Kuiper belt objects that have escaped into the vicinity of the gas-giant planets. Centaurs are considered to have unstable orbits, and gravitational encounters with the large outer planets could send them into the inner solar system or alternatively could eject them from the solar system into interstellar space. Chiron, the first such body to be classified as a Centaur, was discovered in 1977.

centaur

American  

[sen-tawr] / ˈsɛn tɔr /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. one of a race of creatures having the head, trunk, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse.

2. Astronomy. Centaur, the constellation Centaurus.

3. a skillful horseman or horsewoman.

4. Rocketry. Centaur, a U.S. upper stage, with a restartable liquid-propellant engine, used with an Atlas or Titan booster to launch satellites and probes.

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centaur British  

/ ˈsɛntɔː /

noun

1. Greek myth one of a race of creatures with the head, arms, and torso of a man, and the lower body and legs of a horse

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Centaur Scientific  

/ sĕn′tôr′ /

1. Any of a group of icy bodies similar to both asteroids and comets, orbiting the Sun in elliptical paths mostly in the region between Saturn and Neptune. Centaurs range in diameter from around 100 to 400 km (62 to 248 mi) and are believed to be Kuiper belt objects that have escaped into the vicinity of the gas-giant planets. Centaurs are considered to have unstable orbits, and gravitational encounters with the large outer planets could send them into the inner solar system or alternatively could eject them from the solar system into interstellar space. Chiron, the first such body to be classified as a Centaur, was discovered in 1977.

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Other Word Forms

• centaurial
  adjective
• centaurian
  adjective
• centauric
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of centaur

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, Old English, from Latin centaurus, from Greek kéntauros

Explanation

Have you ever seen a centaur at the zoo? I doubt it! It's a mythological creature that's half-man, half- horse. Like elves, trolls, werewolves, zombies, and vampires, the centaur is a mythical creature, specifically a creature equal parts horse and man. This is a little like a mermaid, who is half-fish and half-woman. In case you were wondering, the top half is the man part. Even in the made-up world of mythology, the other way around just wouldn't work.

Example Sentences

Other portraits feature a loser’s face on a shirtless firefighter sitting near a blaze, and another member’s image atop a centaur.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 7, 2025

For their investigations, the research team was allowed to take five small samples from the back of the centaur head.

From Science Daily • Jan. 18, 2024

Sagittarius is generally depicted as the Archer, a centaur holding a bow.

From Scientific American • Aug. 4, 2023

In 2013, astronomers discovered a couple of rings around Chariklo, a body known as a centaur that orbits the sun between Saturn and Uranus.

From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2023

Beyond the dragon, a centaur stood near the moat, gazing at me.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine

Related Words

• behemoth
• freak
• giant
• whale