Etymology

baryon

B3A1R1Y4O1N1

Today it means: A heavy subatomic particle created by the binding of quarks by gluons; a hadron containing three quarks. Baryons have half-odd integral spin and are thus fermions. This category includes the common proton and neutron of the atomic nucleus. Full definition →

English electronbf. ← Ancient Greek ἰόν (ión) ← Proto-Hellenic *éimi
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷreh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʷréh₂us
  3. Proto-Hellenic*gʷarus
  4. Ancient Greekβαρύς (barús)
  5. Ancient Greekἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron)
  6. Latinēlectrum
  7. New Latinēlectricus
  8. Englishelectric
  9. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ey-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éyti
  11. Proto-Hellenic*éimi
  12. Ancient Greekἰόν (ión)
  13. Englishion
  14. Englishelectronbf.
  15. English todaybaryon

From Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús, “heavy”) + English -on. Coined by Dutch-American physicist Abraham Pais in 1953. Equivalent to baryo- + -on.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.