English
electron
Blend of electric + ion, coined by Anglo-Irish scientist George Stoney in 1891, changed by him multiple times from an earlier electrolion and original electrine (used as early as 1874) as the name for the electric charge associated with a univalent ion.
The story
Blend of electric + ion, coined by Anglo-Irish scientist George Stoney in 1891, changed by him multiple times from an earlier electrolion and original electrine (used as early as 1874) as the name for the electric charge associated with a univalent ion. The particle ("corpuscule") was discovered in 1896. The name electrion was proposed for the particle in 1906 but curtailed because Hendrik Lorentz preferred electron.
Today it means
noun The subatomic particle having a negative charge and orbiting the nucleus; the flow of electrons in a conductor constitutes electricity.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / electron