Standard Lemma guide

UFO

noun · 5 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.

  • UK: /ˌjuːɛfˈəʊ/
  • UK: /ˈjuːfəʊ̯/
  • US: /ˌjuˌɛfˈoʊ/
  • US: /ˈjufoʊ̯/
  • US: /ˈʌfoʊ̯/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊ
  • rhymes with -uːfəʊ
  • /ˈju.foʊ/
  • CMU ARPABET: Y UW2 EH2 F OW1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Initialism of unidentified flying object; (loosely) an alien spacecraft.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: UAP

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An "unfinished object" in knitting or other kinds of craft.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: colloquial

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Initialism of ultrared flattened object.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A UFO.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an (apparently) flying object whose nature is unknown; especially those considered to have extraterrestrial origins

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unidentified flying object, flying saucer

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, shadow

History

Etymology

Initialisms.

Reading of UFO as a word in its own right.

Across languages

Translations

73 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Albanian: OFP — an unidentified flying object
  • Arabic: يُو أَف أَو (yū ʔaf ʔaw) — an unidentified flying object
  • Arabic: الطَّبَق الطَّائِر (aṭ-ṭabaq aṭ-ṭāʔir) — an unidentified flying object
  • Armenian: ՉԹՕ (ČʻTʻŌ) — an unidentified flying object
  • Azerbaijani: NUO — an unidentified flying object
  • Azerbaijani: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Azerbaijani: UNO — an unidentified flying object
  • Basque: OHE — an unidentified flying object
  • Belarusian: НЛА (NLA) — an unidentified flying object
  • Bulgarian: НЛО (NLO) — an unidentified flying object
  • Catalan: ovni — an unidentified flying object
  • Chinese Cantonese: UFO (ju1 e1 fu4 ou1, ju1 e1 fou1) — an unidentified flying object
  • Chinese Cantonese: 飛碟 /飞碟 — an unidentified flying object
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不明飛行物 /不明飞行物 (bùmíng fēixíngwù) — an unidentified flying object
  • Chinese Mandarin: 飛碟 /飞碟 (fēidié) — an unidentified flying object
  • Chinese Mandarin: 幽浮 (yōufú) — an unidentified flying object
  • Czech: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Danish: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Dutch: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Esperanto: NIFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Esperanto: nifo — an unidentified flying object
  • Estonian: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Finnish: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Finnish: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • French: OVNI — an unidentified flying object
  • Galician: ovni — an unidentified flying object
  • Georgian: ამო (amo) — an unidentified flying object
  • German: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Greek: ΑΤΙΑ (ATIA) — an unidentified flying object
  • Hebrew: עב״ם ('abám) — an unidentified flying object
  • Hindi: उड़न तश्तरी (uṛan taśtarī) — an unidentified flying object
  • Hindi: उड़न खटोला (uṛan khaṭolā) — an unidentified flying object
  • Hungarian: ufó — an unidentified flying object
  • Icelandic: FFH — an unidentified flying object
  • Irish: úfó — an unidentified flying object
  • Italian: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Italian: ufo m or OVNI — an unidentified flying object
  • Japanese: UFO (yūfō) — an unidentified flying object
  • Japanese: 未確認飛行物体 (mikakunin hikō buttai) — an unidentified flying object
  • Kashubian: maniewid — an unidentified flying object
  • Kazakh: БҰН (BŪN) — an unidentified flying object
  • Khmer: វត្ថុហោះហើរមិនស្គាល់អត្តសញ្ញាណ (vɔɔtthohɑhhaəmɨnskŏəlʼɑɑttɑɑhññiən) — an unidentified flying object
  • Korean: 유에프오 (yuepeuo) — an unidentified flying object
  • Korean: 미확인비행물체 (mihwaginbihaengmulche) — an unidentified flying object
  • Latvian: NLO — an unidentified flying object
  • Lithuanian: NSO — an unidentified flying object
  • Macedonian: НЛО (NLO) — an unidentified flying object
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Persian: یوفو (yufo) — an unidentified flying object
  • Pohnpeian: iuepoh — an unidentified flying object
  • Polish: NOL — an unidentified flying object
  • Polish: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Portuguese: óvni — an unidentified flying object
  • Portuguese: ovni — an unidentified flying object
  • Portuguese: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Romanian: OZN — an unidentified flying object
  • Russian: НЛО (NLO) — an unidentified flying object
  • Serbo-Croatian: НЛО — an unidentified flying object
  • Serbo-Croatian: NLO — an unidentified flying object
  • Slovak: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Slovene: NLP — an unidentified flying object
  • Spanish: ovni — an unidentified flying object
  • Swedish: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Tamil: பறக்கும்தட்டு (paṟakkumtaṭṭu) — an unidentified flying object
  • Turkish: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Turkish: ufo — an unidentified flying object
  • Turkish: uçan daire — an unidentified flying object
  • Ukrainian: НЛО (NLO) — an unidentified flying object
  • Uzbek: NUJ — an unidentified flying object
  • Vietnamese: UFO — an unidentified flying object
  • Vietnamese: vật thể bay không xác định — an unidentified flying object