-tron

American  

1. a combining form extracted from electron, used with nouns or combining forms, principally in the names of electron tubes (ignitron; klystron; magnetron ) and of devices for accelerating subatomic particles (cosmotron; cyclotron ); also, more generally, in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments (biotron ).

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-tron ¹ British  

suffix

1. indicating a vacuum tube

   magnetron

2. indicating an instrument for accelerating atomic or subatomic particles

   synchrotron

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tron ² British  

/ trɒn /

noun

1. a public weighing machine

2. the place where a tron is set up; marketplace

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Etymology

Origin of -tron

By initial shortening of electron, with perhaps accidental allusion to the Greek instrumental suffix -tron, as in árotron “plough”