Added 9 October 2026
photon
/ˈfəʊtɒn/ noun
In Latin: none, coined in 1916 Coined: 1916, by Leonard Troland Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about photon at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A quantum of electromagnetic radiation; an elementary particle that is its own antiparticle.
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)