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molecula. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
molecula, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
molecula in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
molecula you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Latin molecula.
Noun
molecula (plural moleculae)
- (now historical) A molecule; a small particle of something.
1751, John Locke, Elements of Natural Philosophy, section XII:Smal bodies, of Atoms, out of whose various combinations bigger molleculæ are made.
1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009:They acted by the ancient organized states in the shape of their old organization, and not by the organic moleculae of a disbanded people.
Latin
Etymology
Derived from mōlēs (“mass”) + -cula (diminutive suffix). Coined by René Descartes in the 1620s. Modern meaning first used by Amedeo Avogadro in 1811.
Pronunciation
Noun
mōlēcula f (genitive mōlēculae); first declension
- (New Latin, chemistry) molecule
Declension
First-declension noun.
Descendants
References
- molecula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- molecula in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016