quark

American  

[kwawrk, kwahrk] / kwɔrk, kwɑrk /

noun

1. Physics. any of the particles with spin 1/2, baryon number 1/3, and electric charge 1/3 or −2/3 that, together with their antiparticles, are believed to constitute all the elementary particles classed as baryons and mesons; they are distinguished by their flavors, designated as up (u), down (d), strange (s), charm (c), bottom or beauty (b), and top or truth (t), and their colors, red, green, and blue.

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quark ¹ British  

/ kwɑːk /

noun

1. a type of low-fat soft cheese

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quark ² British  

/ kwɑːk /

noun

1. physics any of a set of six hypothetical elementary particles together with their antiparticles thought to be fundamental units of all baryons and mesons but unable to exist in isolation. The magnitude of their charge is either two thirds or one third of that of the electron

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quark Scientific  

/ kwôrk,kwärk /

1. Any of a group of elementary particles supposed to be the fundamental units that combine to make up the subatomic particles known as hadrons (baryons, such as neutrons and protons, and mesons). There are six different flavors (or types) of quark: up quark, down quark, top quark, bottom quark, charm quark, and strange quark. Quarks have fractional electric charges, such as 1/3 the charge of an electron.

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

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Etymology

Origin of quark

Coined in 1963 by U.S. physicist Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019), who associated it with a word in Joyce's Finnegans Wake, read variously as English quark croak and German Quark curd, (slang) rubbish, tripe

Example Sentences

While a proton contains two up quarks and one down quark, the Ξcc⁺ replaces the up quarks with heavier charm quarks.

From Science Daily

These common particles are composed of three quarks, which are fundamental building blocks of matter.

From Barron's

In quantum field theory, the particles that make up our world such as electrons, top quarks, neutrinos, and even dark matter are not independent objects in the usual sense.

From Science Daily

High energy proton collisions can be pictured as a roiling sea of quarks and gluons, including short lived virtual particles.

From Science Daily

By doing so, researchers aim to recreate the universe's earliest moments and learn how a hot mixture of quarks and gluons eventually formed stable atomic nuclei and, ultimately, all matter.

From Science Daily