atom (English)
Where does "atom" come from?
The English word 'atom' descends through Middle English 'attome' and Middle French 'athome' from the Latin 'atomus' meaning 'smallest particle'[1]. This Latin term was borrowed from the Ancient Greek 'ἄτομος' meaning 'indivisible'[1][2], a compound built from 'ἀ-' meaning 'not' combined with the o-grade of the root of 'τέμνω' meaning 'to cut'[1][4]. The root itself traces back to Proto-Indo-European '*temh₁-' meaning 'to cut'[3]. These particles were named because they were historically conceived as the ultimate, indivisible units of matter[1].
Open questions
- The Proto-Indo-European source root and its nasal-infixed present forms are linguistic reconstructions. [3]
Full etymology tree
- atom (English), 'The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something.'
- borrowed attome (Middle English), 'atom (fifteen ninety-fourths of a second)'
- borrowed athome (Middle French), 'atom (in classical philosophy, a tiny indivisible unit)'
- borrowed atomus (Latin), 'indivisible'
- borrowed ἄτομος (átomos) (Ancient Greek), 'uncut'
- compound ἀ- (a-) (Ancient Greek), 'The alpha privativum, used to make words that have a sense opposite to the word (or stem) to which the prefix is attached. It is also known as privative a and alpha privative; a-, ab-, an-, anti-, contra-, de-, dis-, ex-, il-, im-, in-, ob-, ne-, non-, not, un-'
- compound τομ- (tom-) (Ancient Greek)
- derived τέμνω (témnō) (Ancient Greek), 'to cut, hew'
- derived τάμνω (támnō) (Ancient Greek), 'Ionic form of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”)'
- derived ἔτεμον (étemon) (Ancient Greek), 'first-person singular/third-person plural aorist active indicative of τέμνω (témnō)'
- derived *tm̥-né-h₁-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *temh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cut'
- derived *tm̥-né-h₁-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived ἔτεμον (étemon) (Ancient Greek), 'first-person singular/third-person plural aorist active indicative of τέμνω (témnō)'
- derived τάμνω (támnō) (Ancient Greek), 'Ionic form of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”)'
- derived τέμνω (témnō) (Ancient Greek), 'to cut, hew'
- borrowed ἄτομος (átomos) (Ancient Greek), 'uncut'
- borrowed atomus (Latin), 'indivisible'
- borrowed athome (Middle French), 'atom (in classical philosophy, a tiny indivisible unit)'
- borrowed attome (Middle English), 'atom (fifteen ninety-fourths of a second)'
Ancestors
- *temh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
- attome (Middle English)
- athome (Middle French)
- atomus (Latin)
- ἄτομος (Ancient Greek)
- ἀ- (Ancient Greek)
- τέμνω (Ancient Greek)
- -ος (Ancient Greek)
Cognates and doublets
- atomus (English)
Descendants and derived words
- adatom (English)
- atom bomb (English)
- atom cocktail (English)
- atomechanics (English)
- atomerg (English)
- atom feed (English)
- atomic (English)
- atomic (English)
- atomical (English)
- atomically (English)
- atomism (English)
- atomist (English)
Sources
- atom (English) - Wiktionary
- atomus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- τέμνω (témnō) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
- ἄτομος (átomos) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
- athome (Middle French) - Wiktionary
- attome (Middle English) - Wiktionary
Updated September 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris