Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

axion

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.93 in modern English

Syllables: ax-ion
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A hypothetical subatomic particle postulated to resolve certain symmetry problems concerning the strong nuclear force.

Example Sentences

"2000 Summer/Fall, John Clarke, Superconductivity: A Macroscopic Quantum Phenomenon, Rene Donaldson, Bill Kirk (editors), Beam Line, Volume 30, Number 2, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, page 47, The axion is a candidate particle for the cold dark matter that constitutes a large fraction of the mass of the Universe."
"In summary, the first version of gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking has the advantage of giving an axion mass that is within cosmological bounds, while the second version has the advantage of giving the gauginos masses that are comparable to the masses of the squarks and sleptons."
"Let us begin with a disclaimer: axions, a, have been conjectured to exist on theoretical grounds, but have not as yet been observed. They are supposed to be very light particles that interact very weakly with matter."
"Theoretical considerations appear to indicate that the axion mass should be somewhere between the microelectron volt and millielectron volt range."

Etymology

Coined by American physicist Frank Wilczek in 1978 after Axion, a brand of laundry detergent, for its -on suffix and the notion that the new particle could "clean up" a problem in physics. Also with relation to the axial current.

Inflected Forms

axions (plural)

Derived Forms

axionic axionlike axiverse axizilla relaxion saxion

Questions

What does axion mean?: A hypothetical subatomic particle postulated to resolve certain symmetry problems concerning the strong nuclear force.
Where does axion come from?: Coined by American physicist Frank Wilczek in 1978 after Axion, a brand of laundry detergent, for its -on suffix and the notion that the new particle could "clean up" a problem in physics. Also with relation to the axial current.

How to pronounce axion

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