Standard Lemma guide
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.
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noun
The mesial plane dividing the body into similar right and left halves.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: regional
Topics: biology, entomology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A member of a group of subatomic particles having a mass intermediate between electrons and protons. (The most easily detected mesons fit this definition.)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
An elementary particle that is composed of a quark and an antiquark, such as a kaon or pion. (Mesons composed of rarer quarks are much heavier.)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: particle, specifically
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
an elementary particle responsible for the forces in the atomic nucleus; a hadron with a baryon number of 0
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mesotron
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: boson, hadron
Narrower terms: b-meson, J particle, psi particle, kaon, kappa-meson, k-meson, K particle, pion, pi-meson
History
From Ancient Greek μέσον (méson, “middle”). Doublet of medium.
From meso- + -on. Coined by Indian physicist Homi Bhabha in 1939, as a modification of the earlier suggestion mesotron.
Across languages
34 source translations are retained for this English entry.
