Etymology

diatom

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Today it means: Any of a group of minute unicellular algae having a siliceous covering of great delicacy, now categorized as class Diatomophyceae or division Bacillariophyta. Full definition →

Ancient Greek διάτομος
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diatom · noun1

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromδιάτομος“cut through, cut in half”
  2. English todaydiatom

From (deprecated) genus name Diatoma, from Ancient Greek διάτομος (diátomos, “cut through, cut in half”).

diatom · noun2

From di- + atom.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.