Etymology

hadron

H4A1D2R1O1N1

Today it means: A composite particle that comprises two or more quarks held together by the strong force and (consequently) can interact with other particles via said force; a meson or a baryon. Full definition →

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

  1. Ancient Greekἁδρός (hadrós)
  2. Ancient Greekἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron)
  3. Latinēlectrum
  4. New Latinēlectricus
  5. Englishelectric
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ey-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éyti
  8. Proto-Hellenic*éimi
  9. Ancient Greekἰόν (ión)
  10. Englishion
  11. Englishelectronbf.
  12. English todayhadron

From Ancient Greek ἁδρός (hadrós, “thick”) + English -on. Coined by Russian physicist Lev Okun in 1962 in a plenary talk at the International Conference on High Energy Physics.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.