Etymology

monatomic

M3O1N1A1T1O1M3I1C3

Today it means: Of an element, consisting of a single atom in the molecule, for example, the noble gases. Note: Strictly speaking, a molecule has at least two atoms. Full definition →

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

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

From mon- + atomic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.