Etymologically
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particle

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 14:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈpɑː.tɪ.kəl/, US /ˈpɑːr.t̬ə.kəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin particula (“little bit or part, grain”), a diminutive of pars (“part, piece”) (see part),[2][3][4][5][6] from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to grant, allot”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small part of a whole: 1380 in the OED;[7] a minute portion of matter before 1398, in Trevisa, in Barnhart.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In grammar a particle is a minor part of speech, from 1533.[7][3] A very small amount of something immaterial is from 1620,[7] and the part of the Host given to each communicant from 1727–41.[7] The adverb in a phrasal verb is a particle from 1925.[7] The particle accelerator is from 1946,[2] particle physics from 1946 in Barnhart, 1969 in Etymonline,[2][3] and particle board, made of wood chips, from 1957.[3] In obsolete Scots a particle was a small piece of land.[8]

Timeline

  • 1380 – a small part.[7]
  • before 1398 – a minute portion of matter.[2]
  • 1533 – a particle (grammar).[7]
  • 1946 – particle accelerator.[2]
  • 1957 – particle board.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A very small piece of matter; a speck.
  2. A very small amount: not a particle of difference.
  3. (physics) An elementary unit of matter, such as an electron or proton.
  4. (grammar) A short function word, such as a word forming part of a phrasal verb.

Word family

  • particled

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)