Noun: nova
| Singular | nova |
| Plural | novae; novas |
Sample Sentences
-
In these stellar pairings, if the two stars are close together, the white dwarf will siphon mass away from its companion and have an outburst called a nova. And when the white dwarf accumulates too much mass, it will collapse and explode in a supernova. [2024 August 21, Ashley Strickland, “An unusual object is moving so fast it could escape the Milky Way. Scientists aren’t certain what it is”, in CNN, archived from the original on 24 Sep 2024:]
Nouns inflected like nova
serosa,
situla,
ecclesia,
synapticula,
condensed formula,
melopoeia,
pfennig,
failed supernova,
subcosta,
mycoflora,
zonula,
noctiluca,
anurofauna,
veillonella,
dalmatica,
bosenova,
ectomycorrhiza,
microfauna,
lymphoglandula,
un-nova, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
Feminine nominative singular of Latin novus (“new”). The feminine is used since stella (“star”) is feminine; thus nova is a shortening of nova stella (“new star”), first used in this sense in 1573 by Tycho Brahe. See: Latin Nouns '
novus'.