unidentified flying object

English

An unidentified flying object photographed in Belgium in 1990.

Etymology

The phrase is usually attributed to US Air Force officer Edward J. Ruppelt (1923–1960) who coined it as a replacement of the terms flying saucer and flying disk.

Noun

unidentified flying object (plural unidentified flying objects)

1. Anything not readily explainable appearing to move through or be suspended in the air, primarily used to refer to objects that seem to be at least of small familiar aircraft size.

   The lights seen over the city last night, originally termed unidentified flying objects, turned out to be spotlights from a car dealership reflecting on low clouds.

   • 2023 February 12, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, Edward Wong, “What’s Going On Up There? Theories but No Answers in Shootdowns of Mystery Craft.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The U.S. and Canada are investigating three unidentified flying objects shot down over North America in the past three days. Militaries have adjusted radars to try to spot more incursions.

2. (colloquial) An alien spacecraft.

   Synonym: (more commonly) UFO

Synonyms

• UFO (abbreviation)
• UAP, unidentified aerial phenomenon, unexplained aerial phenomenon
• (alien spacecraft): flying saucer

Hypernyms

• flying object

Coordinate terms

• transient luminous event (“TLE”)

Translations

anything in the air not readily explainable

• Armenian: չբացահայտված թռչող օբյեկտ (čʻbacʻahaytvac tʻṙčʻoġ ōbyekt)
• Asturian: oxetu esnalador non identificáu m
• Azerbaijani: naməlum uçan obyekt, (abbreviation) NUO, uçan naməlum obyekt
• Basque: objektu hegalari ezezagun
• Belarusian: неапазна́ны лята́ючы аб'е́кт m (njeapaznány ljatájučy abʺjékt)
• Bulgarian: неидентифици́ран летя́щ обе́кт m (neidentificíran letjášt obékt)
• Catalan: objecte volador no identificat m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 不明飛行物體／不明飞行物体 (bat¹ ming⁴ fei¹ hang⁴ mat⁶ tai²)

  Mandarin: 不明飛行物／不明飞行物 (zh) (bùmíng fēixíngwù), 飛碟／飞碟 (zh) (fēidié), 幽浮 (zh) (yōufú)

• Cornish: taklen-neyja anaswonys f
• Czech: neidentifikovatelný létající předmět m, UFO (cs) m (abbreviation)
• Dutch: UFO (nl) n (abbreviation)
• Esperanto: ne-identifita flug-objekto, NIFO (abbreviation)
• Finnish: tunnistamaton lentävä esine; UFO (fi), ufo (fi) (abbreviations)
• French: objet volant non-identifié m, OVNI (fr) m (abbreviation)
• Georgian: ამოუცნობი მფრინავი ობიექტი (amoucnobi mprinavi obiekṭi)
• German: unidentifiziertes Flugobjekt n, UFO (de) n (abbreviation)
• Greek: άγνωστης ταυτότητας ιπτάμενο αντικείμενο (ágnostis taftótitas iptámeno antikeímeno), ΑΤΙΑ (el) (ATIA) (abbreviation)
• Hindi: उड़न तश्तरी (uṛan taśtarī)
• Hungarian: azonosítatlan repülő tárgy
• Icelandic: fljúgandi furðuhlutur (is) m, FFH n (abbreviation)
• Italian: oggetto volante non identificato m, OVNI (it) m (abbreviation)
• Japanese: ＵＦＯ (ja) (ユーフォー, Yūfō), 未確認飛行物体 (ja) (mikakunin-hikō-buttai)
• Kannada: ಅಪರಿಚಿತ ಹಾರಾಡುವ ವಸ್ತು (aparicita hārāḍuva vastu)
• Kazakh: беймәлім ұшқыш нысан (beimälım ūşqyş nysan)
• Khmer: វត្ថុហោះហើរមិនស្គាល់អត្តសញ្ញាណ (vɔɔtthohɑhhaəmɨnskŏəlʼɑɑttɑɑhññiən)
• Korean: 미확인비행물체 (ko) (mihwaginbihaengmulche)
• Macedonian: неидентификуван летечки објект m (neidentifikuvan letečki objekt), НЛО (mk) (NLO) (abbreviation)
• Mongolian: үл танигдах нисдэг биет (ül tanigdax nisdeg bijet), ҮТНБ (ÜTNB)
• Norwegian: uidentifisert flygende objekt n
• Polish: niezidentyfikowany obiekt latający (pl) m
• Portuguese: objeto voador não-identificado m
• Romanian: obiect zburător neidentificat n
• Russian: неопо́знанный лета́ющий объе́кт (ru) m (neopóznannyj letájuščij obʺjékt), НЛО (ru) m (NLO) (abbreviation)
• Sinhalese: හඳුනා නොගත් පියාඹන වස්තූන් (haⁿdunā nogat piyāᵐbana wastūn)
• Spanish: objeto volador no identificado m
• Swedish: oidentifierat flygande föremål n, oidentifierat flygande objekt n; UFO (sv) n, ufo (sv) n (abbreviations)
• Tamil: அடையாளம் கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியாத பறக்கும் பொருள் (aṭaiyāḷam kaṇṭupiṭikka muṭiyāta paṟakkum poruḷ)
• Telugu: గుర్తించబడని ఎగురుతున్న వస్తువు (gurtiñcabaḍani egurutunna vastuvu)
• Turkish: uçan daire (tr)
• Ukrainian: непі́знаний літа́ючий об'є́кт m (nepíznanyj litájučyj obʺjékt)
• Vietnamese: vật thể bay không xác định, vật thể bay chưa xác định

colloquial: an alien spacecraft

• Azerbaijani: naməlum uçan obyekt, (abbreviation) NUO
• Bulgarian: неидентифици́ран летя́щ обе́кт m (neidentificíran letjášt obékt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 飛碟／飞碟 (zh) (fēidié)

• Finnish: ufo (fi)
• Greek: ΑΤΙΑ (el) (ATIA)
• Japanese: ＵＦＯ (ja) (ユーフォー, Yūfō), 宇宙船 (ja) (uchūsen), 空飛ぶ円盤 (そらとぶえんばん, sora tobu enban)
• Russian: лета́ющая таре́лка (ru) f (letájuščaja tarélka), НЛО (ru) m (NLO)
• Turkish: uçan daire (tr), UFO (tr)

Further reading

• unidentified flying object on Wikipedia.Wikipedia