Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A trans-Neptunian Kuiper belt object that orbits the Sun in the same time period as Pluto, making exactly two orbits for every three orbits of Neptune.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun astronomy Any of several planetoids in the Kuiper Belt that have orbits similar to Pluto in that they have a resonance of 3:2 with that of Neptune

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Plut(o) + -ino, diminutive suff. (as in neutrino).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Plut(o) + -ino, meaning “little Pluto” (compare neutrino); coined by David C. Jewitt et al.

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Examples

  • Just to further muddy the waters: there is already the term “plutino,” which refers to Kuiper Belt Objects which have orbits similar to Pluto’s that is, in the same 3:2 resonance with Neptune’s orbit.

    Pluton? « Whatever 2006

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