boson

American  

[boh-son] / ˈboʊ sɒn /

noun

Physics.

1. any particle that obeys Bose-Einstein statistics: bosons have integral spins: 0, 1, 2, …

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boson British  

/ ˈbəʊzɒn /

noun

1. any of a group of elementary particles, such as a photon or pion, that has zero or integral spin and obeys the rules of Bose-Einstein statistics Compare fermion

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boson Scientific  

/ bō′sŏn /

1. Any of a class of elementary or composite particles, including the photon, pion, and gluon, that are not subject to the Pauli exclusion principle (that is, any two bosons can potentially be in the same quantum state). The value of the spin of a boson is always an integer. Mesons are bosons, as are the gauge bosons (the particles that mediate the fundamental forces). They are named after the physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.

2. Compare fermion See Note at elementary particle See Table at subatomic particle

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Etymology

Origin of boson

1945–50; named after S. N. Bose (1894–1974), Indian physicist; -on ¹

Compare meaning

How does boson compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• boson vs. fermion

Explanation

A boson is a nuclei with an even mass number. Bosons are subatomic particles. An atom isn’t the smallest thing in the world: there are also subatomic particles, such as bosons. Bosons get their name from Indian physicist S. N. Bose, who first described their behavior. If you want to understand bosons thoroughly, you'd better take a class in in particle physics. In a nutshell, a boson has a symmetric wave-function, therefore obeying Bose-Einstein statistics but not the Pauli exclusion principle. Physicists study bosons to understand how the universe works at the tiniest level.

Example Sentences

The 27-kilometre proton-smashing ring, running about 100 metres below France and Switzerland, has, among other things, been used to prove the existence of the Higgs boson.

From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026

Take the discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle that helps explain why anything has mass—and thus why atoms, molecules and matter itself can exist.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

"Basically, this collapse produces a lot of particles, including the right-handed neutrinos, the scalar bosons, and the gauge boson, like a shower," study co-author Hamada explains.

From Science Daily • Dec. 7, 2025

Peter Higgs, the British physicist who proposed the famed particle called the Higgs boson, died last week at age 94.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 10, 2024

The Higgs boson may or may not actually exist; it was invented simply as a way of endowing particles with mass.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson