Parsec

//ˈpɑɹ.sɛk// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Syllabic abbreviation of parallax second.
"Han Solo: Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon? Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi: Should I have? Han Solo: It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I've outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm talking about the big Corellian ships now. She's fast enough for you old man."
2
a unit of astronomical length based on the distance from Earth at which stellar parallax is 1 second of arc; equivalent to 3.262 light years wordnet

Synonyms

chaos kilometer light year measure outer space parallax second

Example

"The parsec is equal to about 3.3 light-years."

Etymology

Contraction of parallax second.

Related phrases

final parsec problem last parsec problem light year parallax second stellar parallax

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.