Standard Lemma guide

nucleon

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

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  • /ˈn(j)uːkliɒn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A proton (uud) or a neutron (udd).

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

a constituent (proton or neutron) of an atomic nucleus

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: baryon, heavy particle

Narrower terms: antineutron, antiproton, neutron, proton

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *knuks Latin nux Latin nucleuslbor. English nucleus English -on English nucleon From nucleus + -on.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: նուկլոն (nuklon) — a proton or a neutron
  • Basque: nukleoi — a proton or a neutron
  • Breton: nukleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Bulgarian: нуклон (nuklon) — a proton or a neutron
  • Catalan: nucleó — a proton or a neutron
  • Chinese: 核子 (hézǐ) — a proton or a neutron
  • Czech: nukleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Danish: nukleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Finnish: nukleoni — a proton or a neutron
  • Finnish: ydinhiukkanen — a proton or a neutron
  • French: nucléon — a proton or a neutron
  • German: Nukleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Greek: νουκλεόνιο (noukleónio) — a proton or a neutron
  • Italian: nucleone — a proton or a neutron
  • Japanese: 核子 (kakushi) — a proton or a neutron
  • Khmer: នយស្តាណូ (neak yak sta no) — a proton or a neutron
  • Khmer: នុយក្លេអុង (nuy kle ong) — a proton or a neutron
  • Korean: 핵자 (haekja) — a proton or a neutron
  • Latvian: nukleons — a proton or a neutron
  • Polish: nukleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Brazilian Portuguese: núcleon — a proton or a neutron
  • European Portuguese: nucleão — a proton or a neutron
  • Romanian: nucleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Russian: нукло́н (nuklón) — a proton or a neutron
  • Spanish: nucleón — a proton or a neutron
  • Swedish: nukleon — a proton or a neutron
  • Yiddish: נוקלעאָן (nukleon) — a proton or a neutron