Meanings
lepton1
- A small, bronze Judean coin from the 1st century BCE, considered by some to be the widow's mite.
lepton2
plural leptons
- particlenatural sciencesAn elementary particle that has a spin of 1/2 (i.e., is a fermion) and does not interact via the strong nuclear force; examples include the electron, the muon, the neutrino and the tauon.
1 more example
In the present paper we deal with the second order radiative correction to the beta disintegration of nucleon, assuming the Fermi's interaction between necleon and lepton fields, and show that there appears such an ultraviolet divergence as can not be removed by the procedure of renormalization of mass and coupling constant, so far as a single type of coupling is assumed for the decay Hamiltonian.
1950, Tadao Nakano, “Radiative Correction to Decay Processes”, in Progress of Theoretical Physics, volume 5, number 6
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
lepton · noun
- Ancient Greekλέπω (lépō)
- Ancient Greekλεπτόν (leptón)
- Englishlepton
Derived from Ancient Greek λεπτόν (leptón, “small”). From Ancient Greek λεπτόν (leptón), neuter form of λεπτός (leptós, “small”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →lepton · noun
- Ancient Greekλέπω (lépō)
- Ancient Greekλεπτόν (leptón)
- Ancient Greekἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron)
- Latinēlectrum
- New Latinēlectricus
- Englishelectric
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁ey-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éyti
- Proto-Hellenic*éimi
- Ancient Greekἰόν (ión)
- Englishion
- Englishelectronbf.
- Englishlepton
From Ancient Greek λεπτόν (leptón, “small”) + English -on. From Ancient Greek λεπτός (leptós) + -on. Coined by Dutch-American physicist Abraham Pais in 1947.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek λεπτόν
- λεπτόν (leptón)Greek coin
Basque leptoi
- leptoielementary particle
Bengali লেপটন
- লেপটন (lepoṭon)elementary particle
Brazilian Portuguese lépton
- léptonelementary particle
Bulgarian ле́пта
- ле́пта (lépta)Greek coin
Catalan leptó
- leptóelementary particle
Chinese Mandarin 輕子 /轻子
- 輕子 /轻子 (qīngzǐ)elementary particle
Dutch lepton
- leptonelementary particle
Esperanto leptono
- leptonoelementary particle
European Portuguese leptão
- leptãoelementary particle
Finnish lepto, leptoni
- leptoGreek coin
- leptonielementary particle
French lepton, lepton
- leptonGreek coin
- leptonelementary particle
German Lepton
- Leptonelementary particle
Greek λεπτό, λεπτόνιο
- λεπτό (leptó)Greek coin
- λεπτόνιο (leptónio)elementary particle
Hungarian lepton
- leptonelementary particle
Icelandic létteind
- létteindelementary particle
Italian leptone
- leptoneelementary particle
Japanese レプトン, 軽粒子
- レプトン (reputon)elementary particle
- 軽粒子 (keiryūshi)elementary particle
Polish lepton, lepton
- leptonGreek coin
- leptonelementary particle
Romanian lepton
- leptonelementary particle
Russian ле́пта, лепто́н
- ле́пта (lépta)Greek coin
- лепто́н (leptón)elementary particle
Spanish leptón, leptón
- leptónGreek coin
- leptónelementary particle
Swedish lepton
- leptonelementary particle
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
lepton. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lepton
“lepton.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lepton. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lepton,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lepton.
Source: lepton on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.