Word of the Day
hadron
noun
any elementary particle that is subject to the interaction responsible for the short-range attractive force that holds together the nucleus of the atom.
More about hadron
Hadron “an elementary particle subject to the strong nuclear force” is a coinage based on Ancient Greek hadrós “thick, bulky” or “strong, great,” with the suffix -on (clipped from ion). Hadron is not related to the name Hadrian, which comes from a Roman place name that is also the source of Adriatic. Some linguists connect hadrós to Old English sæd “sated, full” or “heavy, weary” (compare modern English sad) on the grounds that Ancient Greek h tends to correspond to English s. If this connection is valid, that also makes hadrós a relative of Latin satis “enough” (found in asset, satiate, and satisfy) and satur “full, well-fed” (found in satire and saturate). Russian physicist Lev Okun created hadron in 1962 as a counterpart of lepton (from Ancient Greek leptós “small, slight”).
how is hadron used?
Protons are the only hadrons known to be stable in isolation—neutrons are stable only when they are incorporated into atomic nuclei. All other hadrons form only fleetingly, from the collision of other particles, and decay in a fraction of a second. So the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] creates new kinds of hadron by causing high-energy, head-on collisions between protons.
Quarks are elementary particles that usually combine in groups of twos and threes to form hadrons such as the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei. More rarely, however, they can also combine into four-quark and five-quark particles, or tetraquarks and pentaquarks.
majesty
noun
regal, lofty, or stately dignity; imposing character; grandeur.
More about majesty
Majesty, “regal, lofty, or stately dignity,” comes from Middle English majeste, which ultimately comes from the Latin stem majestās, meaning “dignity, grandeur.” Majesty was used first in the Christian Church in reference to a deity, then as a title of address or of dignity for kings and queens, and then in Roman history in reference to the power and dignity of the Roman people. It also appears in past Word of the Day lese majesty, which can be defined as an attack on any custom, institution, or belief held sacred or revered by numbers of people. Majesty entered English between 1250–1300.
how is majesty used?
The Catskills are the mountains for all seasons. Some, 300,000,000 years have not dimmed the splendor and majesty of this family of almost seventy mountains and the 1,000 square miles of territory they embrace.
There is a majesty and history to this pre-war building that only our incredible orchestra is truly able to evoke. But then there are quirkier, darker elements with my voice, autoharps, affected pianos that bring a modernness to it all as well.
More about scholarch
Scholarch “the head of a school” comes from Ancient Greek scholárchēs, of the same general meaning, which is a compound of scholḗ “leisure employed in learning” and -archēs, a combining form of árchos “leader.” Scholḗ, of course, is the source of scholar, scholastic, and school. The trigraph sch has two predictable pronunciations in English: sch is pronounced as “shuh” in words of German origin (such as the recent Words of the Day schwa and Weltanschauung) and as “skuh” in words of Ancient Greek or Italian origin (such as the recent Words of the Day paschal and scherzando). Scholarch was first recorded in English in the early 1860s.
how is scholarch used?
We do know that after having served as Lector in the Academy and being described as its “Mind” by Plato, Aristotle was not chosen as the latter’s successor. The job of scholarch, or head of the school, went to Speusippus, Plato’s nephew. Aristotle left Athens shortly after Plato’s death and stayed away for around 12 years.
The scholarch had been instituted in the Strassburg gymnasium in 1528 as well as in the schools of Bern and Basel to assist the rector in his administrative tasks, particularly in the allocation of public funds, and to serve as the government’s representative to the school.