Etymology

tauon

T1A1U1O1N1

Today it means: An unstable elementary particle which is a type of lepton, having a mass almost twice that of a proton, a negative charge, and a spin of ½; it decays into hadrons (usually pions) or other leptons, and neutrinos. Full definition →

Ancient Greek τρίτος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromτρίτος“third”
  2. English todaytauon

From tau + -on, named after the Greek letter ταῦ (taû), the initial letter of Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos, “third”), being the third lepton discovered.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekτρίτος all →

tritontritiumtritide

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.