Standard Lemma guide

axion

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A hypothetical subatomic particle postulated to resolve certain symmetry problems concerning the strong nuclear force.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

Examples

  • 2000 Summer/Fall, John Clarke, Superconductivity: A Macroscopic Quantum Phenomenon, Rene Donaldson, Bill Kirk (editors), Beam Line, Volume 30, Number 2, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, page 47, The axion is a candidate particle for the cold dark matter that constitutes a large fraction of the mass of the Universe.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined by American physicist Frank Wilczek in 1978 after Axion, a brand of laundry detergent, for its -on suffix and the notion that the new particle could "clean up" a problem in physics. Also with relation to the axial current.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 軸子 /轴子 (zhòuzi) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Finnish: aksioni — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • French: axion — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Greek: αξιόνιο (axiónio) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Gujarati: અક્ષાણુ (akṣāṇu) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Hindi: अक्षाणु (akṣāṇu) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Ido: axiono — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Japanese: アクシオン (akushion) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Khmer: អក្ស៊ីអុង (ak si ong) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Korean: 엑시온 (eksion) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Marathi: अक्षाणू (akṣāṇū) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Nepali: अक्षाणु (akṣāṇu) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Polish: aksjon — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Brazilian Portuguese: áxion — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • European Portuguese: axião — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Russian: аксио́н (aksión) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Sanskrit: अक्षाणु (akṣāṇu) — hypothetical subatomic particle
  • Spanish: axión — hypothetical subatomic particle