par|ti|cle

par|ti|cle «PAHR tuh kuhl», noun.

1. a very little bit: »

I got a particle of dust in my eye.

2. a) any one of the extremely small units of which all matter is composed, such as the molecule, atom, electron, photon, neutrino, or meson; elementary particle: »

[The theory of photons] involves the basic dualism between the continuous and the discontinuous, between wave and particle (I. Bernard Cohen).

b) a minute mass of matter that while still having inertia and attraction is treated as a point without length, breadth, or thickness.

3. a) a derivational prefix or suffix, such as un-, -ment, -ly, -ness. b) a word that cannot be inflected, such as a preposition, conjunction, article, or interjection. In, if, an, and ah are particles. c) the term sometimes applied to all such words collectively when classed together as a single part of speech or form class.

4. in the Roman Catholic Church: a) a fragment of the Eucharistic Host. b) the wafer given to each lay communicant.

╂[< Latin particula (diminutive) < pars, partis part]