English
holon
From hole + -on.
Formed from hole + -on
Proto-Germanic *hulaz ‘hollow’
Proto-Germanic *hulą ‘hollow space’
Proto-West Germanic *hol ‘hollow space, cavity’
Old English hol ‘hole, hollow place’
Middle English hole
English hole
Another origin of holon
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-‘whole’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂wósreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὅλοςhólos‘whole’
- Englishtodayholon
Coined by Arthur Koestler in his 1967 book The Ghost in the Machine.
Today it means
noun One of three kinds of quasiparticle (the others being the spinon and orbiton) that electrons in solids are able to split into during the process of spin–charge separation, when extremely tightly confined at temperatures close to absolute zero.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / holon