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
An unstable elementary particle which is a type of lepton, having a mass almost twice that of a proton, a negative charge, and a spin of 1⁄2; it decays into hadrons (usually pions) or other leptons, and neutrinos.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: tau, tau lepton, tau particle
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a lepton of very great mass
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: tau-minus particle
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lepton
History
From tau + -on, named after the Greek letter ταῦ (taû), the initial letter of Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos, “third”), being the third lepton discovered.
Across languages
20 source translations are retained for this English entry.
