WikiWord

English

muon

/ˈmjuːɒn/ · noun

Meaning

  1. An unstable elementary particle in the lepton family, having similar properties to the electron but with a mass 207 times greater.

Etymology / origin

Contraction of the earlier term mu-meson; the particle has now been recategorised as a lepton. Coined by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi in 1951 in his book Elementary Particles.

Related words

Descendant words

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