atomy
/ˈætəmi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.10 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Example Sentences
- "Thou tellſt me there is murder in mine eye, / 'Tis pretty ſure, and very probable, / That eyes, that are the frailſt and ſofteſt things, / VVho ſhut their covvard gates on atomyes, / Should be called tyrants, butchers, murtherers."
- "[…] Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. […] Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil."
- "[T]hicker then in ſunne are Atomies, / Flew bullets, fier, and ſlaughtered dead mens cries."
- "Atomie. A mote flying in the ſunne."
- "[T]he crew / Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance / Within a sunbeam;— […]"
- "Betwixt the close-set ivies came a broad / And solid beam of isolated light, / Crowded with driving atomies, and fell / Slanting upon that picture, from prime youth / Well-known well-loved."
Etymology
A variant of atomi, the plural of atomus (“hypothetical particle posited as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter; mote of dust in a sunbeam”) treated as a singular form. Atomus is derived from Latin atomus, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”, adjective), from ᾰ̓- (ă-, prefix forming terms having an opposite sense) + τομ- (tom-) (stem of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns of action or result). Doublet of atom.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈætəmi/
- British English: /ˈætəmi/