Standard Lemma guide

particle

noun · 9 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: /ˈpɑːtɪkl̩/
  • General-American: /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/
  • General-American: [-ɾə-]
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)tɪkəl
  • CMU ARPABET: P AA1 R T AH0 K AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: P AA1 R T IH0 K AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bit, chip, chunk, tranche, clip, crumb, crumbling, cutting, flake, fleak, fragment, hunk, lump, mammock, ort, piece, piecemeal, portion, scrap, scraplet, slice, snead, snippet, steck

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of various physical objects making up the constituent parts of an atom; an elementary particle or subatomic particle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A part of speech that has no inherent lexical definition but must be associated with another word to impart meaning, often a grammatical category: for example, the English word to in a full infinitive phrase (to eat) or O in a vocative phrase (O Canada), or as a discourse marker (mmm).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: p-word

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A part of speech which cannot be inflected.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

In the Roman Catholic church, a crumb of consecrated bread; also the smaller breads used in the communion of the laity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: Christianity

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A little bit.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: atom, molecule, ace, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, bit, crumb, glimpse, dab, damn, dash, diddly, glint, dot, spatter, drop, dusting, fleck, glimmer, hint, flip, flyspeck, grain, halfpennyworth, inch, iota, jot, lick, mite, modicum, morceau, morsel, mote, ooch, ounce, particle, pennyworth, piece, pinch, relish, scantling, semblance, scent, scintilla, scooch, scrap, scruple, shred, skerrick, skoosh, skosh, sliver, smattering, smidge, smidgen, smidget, smidgy, smitch, smithereen, soupçon, spark, speck, speckle, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, tad, tidbit, tidge, tinge, tittle, toddick, touch, trace, trifle, tuppence worth, vestige, whiff, whit

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

a function word that can be used in English to form phrasal verbs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: function word, closed-class word

8

noun

Meaning 8

a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: subatomic particle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: body

Narrower terms: virion, alpha particle, beta particle, boson, deuteron, elementary particle, fundamental particle, fermion, ion, magnetic monopole, micelle, prion, virino, scintilla, superstring, thermion

9

noun

Meaning 9

(nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: atom, molecule, corpuscle, mote, speck

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: material, stuff

Narrower terms: grain, grinding, chylomicron, flyspeck, identification particle

History

Etymology

From Middle French particule, and its source, Latin particula (“small part, particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”). Semantically displaced native Old English grot whence modern English groat.

Across languages

Translations

231 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: grimcë — body with very small size
  • Arabic: جُسَيْم (jusaym) — body with very small size
  • Arabic: ذَرَّة (ḏarra) — body with very small size
  • Armenian: մասնիկ (masnik) — body with very small size
  • Asturian: partícula — body with very small size
  • Azerbaijani: zərrə — body with very small size
  • Azerbaijani: hissəcik — body with very small size
  • Bashkir: киҫәксә (kiśəksə) — body with very small size
  • Bashkir: бөртөк (börtök) — body with very small size
  • Belarusian: часці́ца (čascíca) — body with very small size
  • Belarusian: часьці́ца (časʹcíca) — body with very small size
  • Bengali: কণা (kona) — body with very small size
  • Bulgarian: части́ца (častíca) — body with very small size
  • Burmese: အမှုန်အမွှား (a.hmun-a.hmwa:) — body with very small size
  • Burmese: အမှုန် (a.hmun) — body with very small size
  • Carpathian Rusyn: части́ця (častýcja) — body with very small size
  • Catalan: partícula — body with very small size
  • Chinese Mandarin: 粒子 (lìzi) — body with very small size
  • Czech: částice — body with very small size
  • Danish: partikel — body with very small size
  • Danish: lille del — body with very small size
  • Dutch: deeltje — body with very small size
  • Dutch: partikel — body with very small size
  • Esperanto: partiklo — body with very small size
  • Estonian: osake — body with very small size
  • Finnish: hiukkanen — body with very small size
  • Finnish: partikkeli — body with very small size
  • French: particule — body with very small size
  • Galician: partícula — body with very small size
  • Georgian: ნაწილაკი (nac̣ilaḳi) — body with very small size
  • German: Teilchen — body with very small size
  • German: Partikel — body with very small size
  • Greek: μόριο (mório) — body with very small size
  • Hebrew: חֶלְקִיק (khelkik) — body with very small size
  • Hebrew: גַרגִיר (gargir) — body with very small size
  • Hindi: कण (kaṇ) — body with very small size
  • Hindi: ज़र्रा (zarrā) — body with very small size
  • Hungarian: részecske — body with very small size
  • Interlingua: particula — body with very small size
  • Irish: cáithnín — body with very small size
  • Irish: gráinnín — body with very small size
  • Italian: granello — body with very small size
  • Italian: pezzetto — body with very small size
  • Japanese: 粒子 (ryūshi) — body with very small size
  • Kazakh: бөлшек (bölşek) — body with very small size
  • Kazakh: бүртік (bürtık) — body with very small size
  • Khmer: ចុណ្ណភាព (connaʼphiəp) — body with very small size
  • Korean: 입자 (ipja) — body with very small size
  • Korean: 립자 (ripja) — body with very small size
  • Kyrgyz: бөлүкчө (bölükcö) — body with very small size
  • Lao: ອະນຸພາກ (ʼa nu phāk) — body with very small size
  • Latin: particula — body with very small size
  • Latvian: daļiņa — body with very small size
  • Lithuanian: dalelė — body with very small size
  • Macedonian: честичка (čestička) — body with very small size
  • Māori: paku — body with very small size
  • Māori: pakuriki — body with very small size
  • Māori: korakora — body with very small size
  • Māori: matūriki — body with very small size
  • Norman: partitchule — body with very small size
  • Norwegian Bokmål: partikkel — body with very small size
  • Dari: ذَرَّه (zarra) — body with very small size
  • Iranian Persian: ذَرِّه (zarre) — body with very small size
  • Polish: cząstka — body with very small size
  • Portuguese: partícula — body with very small size
  • Romanian: particulă — body with very small size
  • Russian: части́ца (častíca) — body with very small size
  • Russian: крупи́ца (krupíca) — body with very small size
  • Sanskrit: कण (kaṇa) — body with very small size
  • Scottish Gaelic: bìdeag — body with very small size
  • Scottish Gaelic: criomag — body with very small size
  • Scottish Gaelic: mìr — body with very small size
  • Serbo-Croatian: чѐстица — body with very small size
  • Serbo-Croatian: čèstica — body with very small size
  • Slovak: častica — body with very small size
  • Slovene: delček — body with very small size
  • Slovene: delec — body with very small size
  • Spanish: partícula — body with very small size
  • Swahili: chembechembe — body with very small size
  • Swahili: punje — body with very small size
  • Swedish: partikel — body with very small size
  • Tajik: зарра (zarra) — body with very small size
  • Tamil: துகள் (tukaḷ) — body with very small size
  • Thai: อนุภาค (à-nú-pâak) — body with very small size
  • Tibetan: རྡུལ་ཕྲན (rdul phran) — body with very small size
  • Turkish: parçacık — body with very small size
  • Ottoman Turkish: پارچه (parça) — body with very small size
  • Ukrainian: части́нка (častýnka) — body with very small size
  • Ukrainian: ча́стка (částka) — body with very small size
  • Ukrainian: части́ця (častýcja) — body with very small size
  • Urdu: ذَرَّہ (zarra) — body with very small size
  • Urdu: دَقِیقَہ (daqīqa) — body with very small size
  • Uyghur: زەررە (zerre) — body with very small size
  • Uzbek: zarra — body with very small size
  • Uzbek: boʻlak — body with very small size
  • Vietnamese: hạt — body with very small size
  • Arabic: جُسَيْم (jusaym) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Armenian: մասնիկ (masnik) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Asturian: partícula — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Belarusian: часці́ца (čascíca) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Belarusian: часьці́ца (časʹcíca) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Bengali: কণা (kona) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Bulgarian: части́ца (častíca) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Catalan: partícula — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Chinese Mandarin: 基本粒子 (jīběn lìzǐ) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Czech: částice — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Danish: partikel — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Danish: elementarpartikel — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Dutch: deeltje — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Esperanto: partiklo — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Finnish: hiukkanen — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • French: particule — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Galician: partícula — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Georgian: ნაწილაკი (nac̣ilaḳi) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • German: Partikel — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • German: Teilchen — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Greek: σωματίδιο (somatídio) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Haitian Creole: patikil — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Hebrew: חֶלְקִיק (khelkik) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Hungarian: részecske — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Ido: partikulo — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Interlingua: particula — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Irish: cáithnín — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Italian: particella — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Japanese: 素粒子 (soryūshi) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Korean: 소립자 (soripja) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Malayalam: കണം (kaṇaṁ) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Malayalam: കണിക (kaṇika) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Māori: korakora — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Mongolian: үндсэн мөхлөг (ündsen möxlög) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Norman: partitchule — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Norwegian Bokmål: partikkel — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: partikkel — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Polish: cząstka — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Portuguese: partícula — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Romanian: particulă — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Russian: части́ца (častíca) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Serbo-Croatian: чѐстица — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Serbo-Croatian: čèstica — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Slovak: častica — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Slovene: delec — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Spanish: partícula — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Swahili: chembechembe — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Swedish: partikel — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Tagalog: tipik — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Tamil: துகள் (tukaḷ) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Turkish: parçacık — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Ukrainian: части́нка (častýnka) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Urdu: ذَرَّہ (zarra) — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Welsh: gronyn — physical object making up the constituent parts of an atom
  • Albanian: pjesëz — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Arabic: أَدَاة (ʔadāh) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Arabic: حَرْف (ḥarf) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Armenian: եղանակավորող բառ (eġanakavoroġ baṙ) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Azerbaijani: ədat — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Belarusian: часці́ца (čascíca) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Belarusian: часьці́ца (časʹcíca) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Bengali: হরফ (horoph) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Bulgarian: части́ца (častíca) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Burmese: ပစ္စည်း (paccany:) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Catalan: partícula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Chinese Mandarin: 助詞 /助词 (zhùcí) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Czech: částice — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Czech: partikule — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Danish: partikel — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Dutch: partikel — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Esperanto: partikulo — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Estonian: partikkel — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Finnish: partikkeli — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • French: particule — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Galician: partícula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • German: Partikel — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • German: Redeteilchen — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Greek: μόριο (mório) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Hebrew: מִלִּית (milít) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Hungarian: partikula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Icelandic: smáorð — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Interlingua: particula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Irish: páirteagal — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Irish: mír — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Italian: particella — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Japanese: 助詞 (joshi) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Japanese: 助辞 (joji) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Japanese: てにをは (tenioha) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Kazakh: демеулік (demeulık) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Khmer: និបាត (nibaat) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Khmer: អព្យយ (ʼappyĕəʼyĕəʼ) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Korean: 조사 (josa) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Kyrgyz: частица (castitsa) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Kyrgyz: бөлүкчө (bölükcö) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Lao: ອະນຸພາກ (ʼa nu phāk) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Latvian: partikula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Lithuanian: dalelytė — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Macedonian: честичка (čestička) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Māori: weu — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Māori: pūtūmua — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Māori: pūmahi — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Mongolian: сул үг (sul üg) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Norman: partitchule — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Norwegian Bokmål: partikkel — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Pannonian Rusyn: словко (slovko) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Pannonian Rusyn: партикула (partikula) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Iranian Persian: حَرْف (harf) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Polish: partykuła — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Portuguese: partícula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Romanian: particulă — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Russian: части́ца (častíca) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Scottish Gaelic: mion-fhacal — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Serbo-Croatian: чѐстица — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Serbo-Croatian: čèstica — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Serbo-Croatian: rijèčca — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Serbo-Croatian: rèčca — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Slovak: častica — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Slovene: členek — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Lower Sorbian: partikla — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Upper Sorbian: časćica — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Upper Sorbian: partikla — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Spanish: partícula — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Swedish: partikel — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Tagalog: kataga — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Tajik: ҳиссача (hissača) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Thai: อนุภาค (à-nú-pâak) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Turkish: edat — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Turkish: ilgeç — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Ukrainian: ча́стка (částka) — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Uzbek: yuklama — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Vietnamese: trợ từ — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Vietnamese: tiểu từ — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Welsh: geiryn — word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech
  • Kabyle: tazelɣa — part of speech that cannot be inflected
  • Old Norse: málfylling — part of speech that cannot be inflected
Real reading context

particle in complete knowledge articles

Dagaare language Language & communication · Advanced · 20 uses Accelerator physics codes Science & nature · Advanced · 15 uses Stöber process Ideas & learning · Advanced · 13 uses Akei language Language & communication · Developing · 12 uses Nanbu dialect Language & communication · Advanced · 6 uses Wendy Taylor (physicist) Ideas & learning · Advanced · 5 uses Coulomb wave function Ideas & learning · Advanced · 3 uses Bubble chamber Science & nature · Advanced · 2 uses