English Explanatory Dictionary

photon

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The quantum of light and other electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle having zero rest mass, no electric charge, and an indefinitely long lifetime. It is a gauge boson.

Pronunciation

/ˈfəʊtɒn/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-photon.wav

Word forms

photon photons

Etymology

From photo- + -on. Coined by American physicist Leonard Troland in 1916 as a unit of light hitting the retina, and later popularized in a more modern sense by Gilbert N. Lewis, with the term gaining acceptance in the physics community by the late 1920s.

Related words

phonon plasmon

Derived words

antiphoton biophoton biphoton diphoton dual photon absorptiometry graviphoton last photon orbit monophoton multiphoton notoph photino photon belt photon circle photonic photonics photon mapping photon sail photon sphere photon tunnelling proto-photon soft photon super-photon superphoton triphoton
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