Etymology

subatomic

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Today it means: Relating to particles that are constituents of the atom, or are smaller than an atom; such as proton, neutron, electron, etc. Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Englishsub-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*né
  7. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  8. Proto-Hellenic*ə-
  9. Ancient Greekἀ- (a-)
  10. Proto-Indo-European*temh₁-
  11. Ancient Greekτέμνω (témnō)
  12. Ancient Greek*τομός (*tomós)
  13. Ancient Greekἄτομος (átomos)
  14. Latinatomu
  15. Middle Frenchathome
  16. Middle Englishattome
  17. Englishatom
  18. Englishatomic
  19. English todaysubatomic

From sub- + atomic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.