Etymology

neon

ne·on
N1E1O1N1

Today it means: The chemical element (symbol Ne) with an atomic number of 10. The second of the noble gases, it is a colourless, odorless inert gas. Full definition →

Ancient Greek νέον (néon) ← Proto-Hellenic *néwos ← Proto-Indo-European *néwos
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*nu
  2. Proto-Indo-European*néwos
  3. Proto-Hellenic*néwos
  4. Ancient Greekνέος (néos)
  5. Ancient Greekνέον (néon)
  6. English todayneon

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek νέον (néon), neuter of νέος (néos, “new”), from Proto-Hellenic *newos, from Proto-Indo-European *néwos. By surface analysis, neo- + -on (suffix used in all noble gases).

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekνέον all →

neonism

Proto-Indo-European*néwos all →

new

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.