noun · 2 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
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈhæd.ɹɒn/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˈhæd.ɹɑn/
CMU ARPABET:HH AE1 D R AO2 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A composite particle that comprises two or more quarks held together by the strong force and (consequently) can interact with other particles via said force; a meson or a baryon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
any elementary particle that interacts strongly with other particles
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: elementary particle, fundamental particle
Narrower terms: antibaryon, antimeson, baryon, heavy particle, meson, mesotron
History
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἁδρός (hadrós, “thick”) + -on. Coined by Russian physicist Lev Okun in 1962 in a plenary talk at the International Conference on High Energy Physics.
Across languages
Translations
34 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Armenian:
հադրոն
(hadron)
— composite particle composed of quarks
Basque:
hadroi
— composite particle composed of quarks
Catalan:
hadró
— composite particle composed of quarks
Chinese Mandarin:
強子 /强子
(qiángzǐ)
— composite particle composed of quarks
Czech:
hadron
— composite particle composed of quarks
Dutch:
hadron
— composite particle composed of quarks
Esperanto:
hadrono
— composite particle composed of quarks
Finnish:
hadroni
— composite particle composed of quarks
French:
hadron
— composite particle composed of quarks
Galician:
hadrón
— composite particle composed of quarks
Georgian:
ჰადრონი
(hadroni)
— composite particle composed of quarks
German:
Hadron
— composite particle composed of quarks
Greek:
αδρόνιο
(adrónio)
— composite particle composed of quarks
Ido:
hadrono
— composite particle composed of quarks
Italian:
adrone
— composite particle composed of quarks
Japanese:
ハドロン
(hadoron)
— composite particle composed of quarks
Kazakh:
адрон
(adron)
— composite particle composed of quarks