Standard Lemma guide

parsec

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈpɑɹ.sɛk/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɑː.sɛk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AA1 R S EH2 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Syllabic abbreviation of parallax second.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: astronomy, metrology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pc, psc, second of parallax

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 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

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: secpar

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: astronomy unit

History

Etymology

Contraction of parallax second.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: فرسخ (farsakh) — parallax second
  • Arabic: فرسخ فلكي (farsakh falakiyy) — parallax second
  • Bulgarian: парсе́к (parsék) — parallax second
  • Cherokee: ᏆᏎᎦ (quasega) — parallax second
  • Chinese Mandarin: 秒差距 (miǎochājù) — parallax second
  • Czech: parsek — parallax second
  • Dutch: parsec — parallax second
  • Esperanto: parseko — parallax second
  • French: parsec — parallax second
  • Georgian: პარსეკი (ṗarseḳi) — parallax second
  • German: Parsec — parallax second
  • Hungarian: parszek — parallax second
  • Italian: parsec — parallax second
  • Japanese: パーセク (pāseku) — parallax second
  • Kazakh: парсек (parsek) — parallax second
  • Polish: parsek — parallax second
  • Portuguese: parsec — parallax second
  • Russian: парсе́к (parsék) — parallax second
  • Spanish: parsec — parallax second
  • Spanish: pársec — parallax second
  • Swedish: parsek — parallax second
  • Thai: พาร์เซก — parallax second
  • Ukrainian: парсе́к (parsék) — parallax second