photon
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photon
- /ˈfəʊtɒn/
Rhymes with -əʊtɒn
Where it comes from
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.
noun photons
- 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. The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: light, errant, light quantum, gamma photon, gamma quantum, x-ray photon, gauge boson, proto-photon, superphoton, monophoton, super-photon, soft photon, phonon, photonics, antiphoton, photino
Translations
Talk about this word "photon." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/photon. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. photon. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/photon "photon." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/photon.Cite this
@misc{photon_2026,
title = {photon},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/photon},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
