Etymology

thermonuclear

T1H4E1R1M3O1N1U1C3L1E1A1R1

Today it means: Of, or relating to the fusion of atomic nuclei at high temperatures. Full definition →

English nuclear ← Ancient Greek θερμός (thermós) ← Proto-Hellenic *kʷʰermós
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰer-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰermos
  3. Proto-Hellenic*kʷʰermós
  4. Ancient Greekθερμός (thermós)
  5. Englishthermo-
  6. Englishnuclear
  7. English todaythermonuclear

From thermo- + nuclear.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.