Electron

How to spell electron

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce electron

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does electron mean?

1. nounA stable subatomic particle carrying a negative electric charge, found orbiting the nucleus of an atom.

Electron in a sentence

• Each electron carries a single negative charge.

• The teacher explained how an electron moves between atoms to create a current.

Where does electron come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word reaches back to the Greek elektron, which literally meant 'amber', the fossilised tree resin that the ancient Greeks noticed could attract light objects after being rubbed. That single observation gave the whole field of electricity its name: when scientists began studying the mysterious force, they reached for the amber word. In 1891 the Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney coined 'electron' to name the fundamental unit of electric charge, stitching the old amber root onto the suffix -on, which had come to mark elementary particles. Within a few years J. J. Thomson identified the actual particle in 1897, and the name stuck for the tiny negatively charged component of the atom. The spelling stays close to the Greek source, which is why the 'electr-' opening looks identical to 'electric' and 'electricity'.

How the word is built

• electr- (from Greek elektron: amber)
• -on (suffix denoting a fundamental particle)