# Adjectival Form of 'Venus' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683 "2020-09-15T12:23:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/1 "2020-09-15T12:23:22Z")
A recent article on the planet Venus got me thinking. What is the proper adjective of Venu? Popularly it is assumed to be _‘Venusian’_. This article has it as _‘Venutian’_. I thought I heard it once as _Venerean_. But I’m not sure. And while I’m asking, what do _you_ call it? I’m just curious. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/2 "2020-09-15T12:31:34Z")
Neil DeGrasse Tyson has told the story on his podcast more than once that the proper adjective form of Venus should be “Venereal”, but, um, that adjective was already taken for a very different meaning… ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/3 "2020-09-15T12:31:46Z")
MISSED EDIT WINDOW: I can’t seem to insert the link I want. But for the last time, here it is: [Life on Venus? Carl Sagan predicted it in 1967. He may be right. | Mashable](https://mashable.com/article/venus-life-theory-carl-sagan/) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/4 "2020-09-15T12:35:02Z")
Sorry, Solost, it looks like we double posted. In any event, don’t mind me. Carry on 🙂. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/5 "2020-09-15T12:42:52Z")
Apologies to have inserted my NDT anecdote before your addendum. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/6 "2020-09-15T12:48:18Z")
This comic explores the issue. > **[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Phosphine](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/phosphine)** > > Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Phosphine ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/7 "2020-09-15T13:07:51Z")
\*SNRK!\* (Having to add more text else Discourse refuses to accept the post) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/8 "2020-09-15T13:32:54Z")
NASA and the European Space Agency seem to have mainly settled on “Venusian”: [“The Magellan probe that orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994 was able to peer through the thick Venusian clouds…”](https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_47.html) (NASA) [“This phenomenon, known as ‘super-rotation’, sees Venusian winds rotating up to 60 times faster than the planet below…”](https://sci.esa.int/web/venus-express/-/59498-venus-mysterious-night-side-revealed) (ESA) You do occasionally get other adjectives; this [2012 NASA/JPL article](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=3383) uses “Venetian” (“With his telescope, Galileo started cranking out Venetian discoveries, including how the planet changed its illumination phase just like the moon as it circles Earth”), but of course “Venetian” is normally used to mean referring to Venice (the city in Italy), [including by NASA](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/83394/parting-the-sea-to-save-venice). (Indeed, one is tempted to say that usage from the first link was simply a mistake; even “rocket scientists” sometimes make mistakes.) “Venerian” saw a fair amount of use in 20th century science fiction, generally back when people still thought it was likely there was advanced life there (“people” I mean, not maybe hypothetically phosphine-secreting microorganisms): > [@](#): > > The horny, wrinkled, drought-resisting Martian, whom we all know and rather like, is a hideous being indeed. The bat-eyed, colorless, hairless, practically skinless Venerian is worse. But they both are, after all, remote cousins of Terra’s humanity, and we get along with them quite well whenever we are compelled to visit Mars or Venus. – [_Triplanetary_](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20782/20782-h/20782-h.htm) (1934), E.E. “Doc” Smith ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/9 "2020-09-15T15:24:26Z")
I thought the properties and characteristics of the planet itself were Venusian while the inhabitants were Venutians. Can’t remember where I got that idea though. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/10 "2020-09-15T15:50:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Venutians That reads like a misspelling of ‘Venetian’. Erroneous ‘Venus’ for ‘Venice’ is quoted in the OED: Venus cloth, Venus sumach. > [@MEBuckner](#): > > “With his telescope, Galileo started cranking out Venetian discoveries…” Seems some get it backwards sometimes, too. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/11 "2020-09-15T17:10:15Z")
Asimov suggested “Cytherian” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/12 "2020-09-16T21:19:38Z")
Considering Jupiter’s adjective is Jovian and I’ve seen Arean for Mars and Hermean for Mercury we could use Aphroditian for Venus. Doing a google search I see that I am right plus [a lot of other possibilities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectivals_and_demonyms_of_astronomical_bodies). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/13 "2020-09-16T21:51:06Z")
Jove and Jupiter are both Latin, though, not Greek like Ares, Hermes, or Aphrodite. The Greek equivalent of Jupiter is Zeus. “Jupiter” is the nominative singular form of the name, but all other forms of the name are based on “Jovis” ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/14 "2020-09-17T16:33:00Z")
I got the proper use of the name from here back in the late 70’s [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fPLk6nfcEtg/hqdefault.jpg "Mork from Ork - Friends of Venus (part 2)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPLk6nfcEtg) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/15 "2020-09-18T21:55:04Z")
Apparently the proper word is [Russian](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/18/world/venus-russian-planet-scn-scli-intl/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/16 "2020-09-19T12:06:57Z")
In the original Latin, the genitive (possessive) form of “Venus” was/is “Veneris”, so it seems that “venereal” would be closest to the desired word. Likewise - the Latin genitive form of “Mars” is “Martis”, and that of “Jupiter” is “Jovis” - yielding “martial” and “jovial”. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/17 "2020-09-19T18:31:08Z")
The genitive in Latin was always kind of mercurial. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/18 "2020-09-19T22:05:56Z")
I see what you did there, but it’s the nominative that’s inconsistent. The genitive always sets the pattern for all of the other cases. But the nominative, while you can usually give a good educated guess from the genitive, can be anything. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/19 "2020-09-20T09:43:36Z")
Yes, I know. I took some Latin in HS. But don’t ruin the joke by overanalysing. ---
**Author:** ![jane477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2acd7d/32.png) [@jane477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jane477)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adjectival-form-of-venus/920683/20 "2020-10-06T22:23:01Z")
> [@](#): > > MISSED EDIT WINDOW: I can’t seem to insert the link I want. But for the last time, [this](https://writemyessay4me.org/book-report) [https://mashable.com/article/venus-life-theory-carl-sagan/](https://mashable.com/article/venus-life-theory-carl-sagan/) not that he was wrong but I think we are closer to find life on mars than Venus in the closest future