1
Stage 1 of 4
atomos
Greek · ancient
"indivisible, uncuttable"
literally "indivisible", proposed by early philosophers as matter's smallest unit
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Stage 2 of 4
atomus
Latin · ancient
"an indivisible particle"
adopted through Roman philosophical writing
3
Stage 3 of 4
atome
French · medieval
"an indivisible particle"
carried the philosophical term into French
4
Stage 4 of 4
atom
English · medieval
"the smallest unit of a chemical element"
settled as the English scientific term
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