hadron

American  

[had-ron] / ˈhæd rɒn /

noun

Physics.

1. any elementary particle that is subject to the strong interaction. Hadrons are subdivided into baryons and mesons.

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hadron British  

/ ˈhædrɒn /

noun

1. any elementary particle capable of taking part in a strong nuclear interaction and therefore excluding leptons and photons

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hadron Scientific  

/ hăd′rŏn′ /

1. Any of a class of subatomic particles composed of a combination of two or more quarks or antiquarks. Quarks (and antiquarks) of different colors are held together in hadrons by the strong nuclear force. Hadrons include both baryons (composed of three quarks or three antiquarks) and mesons (composed of a quark and an antiquark). The combination of quark colors in a hadron must be neutral, for example, red and antired (as in a pion) or red, blue, and green (as in a proton).

2. Compare baryon lepton

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Other Word Forms

• hadronic adjective

Etymology

Origin of hadron

1962; < Greek hadr ( ós ) thick, bulky + -on ¹

Example Sentences

Based on this picture, it seems reasonable to assume that the disorder of the system, known as entropy, should change between the early parton phase and the later hadron phase.

From Science Daily • Jan. 5, 2026

To reach higher energies, physicists usually build bigger, more powerful hadron colliders that smash protons into either protons or antiprotons.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 27, 2024

So why do they need an even larger hadron collider?

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2024

Lambda particles are baryons, which means they’re a type of hadron made of three quarks: one up quark, one down quark and one strange quark.

From Scientific American • Apr. 27, 2023

Although quarks have never been directly observed, several predictions of the quark model were quickly confirmed, and their properties explain all known hadron characteristics.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015