-tron
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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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QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!
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Question 1 of 7
“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.
Origin of -tron
By initial shortening of electron, with perhaps accidental allusion to the Greek instrumental suffix -tron, as in árotron “plough”
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
British Dictionary definitions for -tron (1 of 2)
tron
/ (trɒn) /
noun
a public weighing machine
the place where a tron is set up; marketplace
Word Origin for tron
C15: from Old French trone, from Latin trutina, from Greek trutanē balance, set of scales
British Dictionary definitions for -tron (2 of 2)
-tron
suffix forming nouns
indicating a vacuum tubemagnetron
indicating an instrument for accelerating atomic or subatomic particlessynchrotron
Word Origin for -tron
from Greek, suffix indicating instrument
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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