the.com/falling star

means A meteor — a bit of space debris burning up as it streaks through Earth's atmosphere, visible as a quick flash of light.

from The phrase is old folk-speech, not scientific coinage — people simply named what they saw: a point of light seeming to drop from the fixed canopy of stars. For most of history no one knew these were tiny rocks and dust grains vaporizing from friction with the air; the night sky was believed static, so a 'star' that moved and fell demanded an explanation, which is also how it became tangled up with wishing. The more technical word 'meteor' comes through Greek 'meteōros,' meaning 'lofty' or 'in the air,' the same root behind 'meteorology' — the study of things happening up in the sky.