Etymology

newton

N1E1W4T1O1N1

Today it means: In the International System of Units, the derived unit of force; the force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram by one metre per second per second. Full definition →

Middle English Neweton ← Old English nēowa
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newton · noun1

Named after the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726) in 1948.

newton · noun2

Attested since the 1990s, from Fig Newtons, a brand name (later renamed just "Newtons" in 2012) which was named for Newton, Massachusetts.

Newton · proper noun3

  1. Old English · derived fromnēowa
  2. Middle English · inherited fromNeweton
  3. English todayNewton

Inherited from Middle English Neweton, from Old English nēowa tūn (“new town”). Compare same construction in Italian Napoli (“Naples”) and in Arabic نَابُلُس (nābulus, “Nablus”). The unexpected Early Modern pronunciation with /ɛʊ̯/ instead of /ɪʊ̯/, as securely attested in Richard Hodges' 1644 English Primrose and confirmed by obsolete Welsh Newtwnn, is due to trisyllabic shortening in Old English nēowa tūn or Middle English Neweton.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.