Etymology

atomism

A1T1O1M3I1S1M3

Today it means: The ancient Greek theory that all matter is composed of very small indestructible and indivisible particles. Full definition →

English atom ← Middle English attome ← Middle French athome
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*ə-
  4. Ancient Greekἀ- (a-)
  5. Proto-Indo-European*temh₁-
  6. Ancient Greekτέμνω (témnō)
  7. Ancient Greek*τομός (*tomós)
  8. Ancient Greekἄτομος (átomos)
  9. Latinatomu
  10. Middle Frenchathome
  11. Middle Englishattome
  12. Englishatom
  13. English todayatomism

From atom + -ism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.