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Origin and history of ion

ion(n.)

1834, introduced by English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday (suggested by the Rev. William Whewell, English polymath), coined from Greek ion, neuter present participle of ienai "go," from PIE root *ei- "to go." So called because ions move toward the electrode of opposite charge.

also from 1834

Entries linking to ion

cation(n.)

"positively charged ion," 1834, from Latinized form of Greek kation "going down," neuter present participle of katienai "to go down," from kata "down" (see cata-) + ienai "to go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go"). Proposed by the Rev. William Whewell, English polymath, and published by English physicist Michael Faraday. Compare ion.

electron(n.)

coined 1891 by Irish physicist George J. Stoney (1826-1911) from electric + -on, as in ion (q.v.). Electron microscope (1932) translates German Elektronenmikroskop.

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Trends of ion

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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iodine
iode "iodine," which was coined 1812 by French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac from Greek ioeides "violet-colored" (from ion...
poem
From 1580s as "written composition, whether in verse or not, characterized by imaginative beauty ion thought or language....
Ionian
The name (which Herodotus credits to an ancestral Ion, son of Apollo and Creusa) probably is pre-Greek, perhaps related to...
soldier
c. 1300, souder, soudiour, "fighting man, one engaged ion military service," from Old French soudier, soldier and Anglo-French...
anion
"a negatively charged ion, which moves toward the anode (q.v.) during electrolysis," 1834, proposed by the Rev. William Whewell, English polymath, and published by English physicist Michael Faraday, from Greek anion "(thing) going up," neuter past participle of anienai "go up," f
action
mid-14c., accioun, "cause or grounds for a lawsuit," from Anglo-French accioun, Old French accion, action (12c.) "action; lawsuit, case," from Latin actionem (nominative actio) "a putting in motion; a performing, a doing; public acts, official conduct; lawsuit, legal action" (sou
particle
late 14c., "a bit or fragment, small part or division of a whole, minute portion of matter," from Latin particula "little bit or part, grain, jot," diminutive of pars (genitive partis) "a part, piece, division" (from PIE root *pere- (2) "to grant, allot"). In grammar, "a part of
Vatican
1550s, from Latin mons Vaticanus, Roman hill on which Papal palace stands. By Klein's sources said to be an Etruscan loan-word and unrelated to vates "soothsayer, prophet, seer" (see vates), but most others seem to think it is related, on the notion of "hill of prophecy" (compare
ink
"the black liquor with which men write" [Johnson], mid-13c., inke, from Old French enche, encre "dark writing fluid" (12c.), earlier enque (11c.), originally enca, from a shortening of Late Latin encaustum, from Late Greek enkauston. This is the neuter of the past-participle adje
dream
"sequence of sensations or images passing through the mind of a sleeping person," mid-13c., probably related to Old Norse draumr, Danish drøm, Swedish dröm, Old Saxon drom "merriment, noise," Old Frisian dram "dream," Dutch droom, Old High German troum, German Traum "dream." Thes

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