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nucleon

American  
[noo-klee-on, nyoo-] / ˈnu kliˌɒn, ˈnyu- /

noun

Physics.
  1. a proton or neutron, especially when considered as a component of a nucleus.


nucleon British  
/ ˈnjuːklɪˌɒn /

noun

  1. a proton or neutron, esp one present in an atomic nucleus

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

nucleon Scientific  
/ no̅o̅klē-ŏn′ /
  1. A proton or a neutron, especially as part of an atomic nucleus.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of nucleon

First recorded in 1935–40; nucle(us) + -on 1

Vocabulary lists containing nucleon

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The researchers also found that these results cannot be reproduced without accounting for three nucleon forces.

From Science Daily • Mar. 8, 2026

The high-speed motion of orbiting sensors increases the coupling between axion halos and nucleon spins, producing a tenfold sensitivity improvement compared with Earth-based dark matter searches.

From Science Daily • Dec. 6, 2025

The electrons in that beam slammed into the target's protons, exciting its internal quarks until the proton began to ring like a bell with nucleon resonance.

From Salon • Sep. 1, 2023

We couldn't see them ringing in a state of nucleon resonances, with their quarks going wild in high-energy vibration against each other.

From Salon • Sep. 1, 2023

At higher A s, the Coulomb repulsion progressively reduces the binding energy per nucleon, because the nuclear force is short ranged.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

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