particle

Significado (Inglês)

1. A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.
2. Any of various physical objects making up the constituent parts of an atom; an elementary particle or subatomic particle.
3. A part of speech that has no inherent lexical definition but must be associated with another word to impart meaning, often a grammatical category: for example, the English word to in a full infinitive phrase (to eat) or O in a vocative phrase (O Canada), or as a discourse marker (mmm).
4. A part of speech which cannot be inflected.
5. In the Roman Catholic church, a crumb of consecrated bread; also the smaller breads used in the communion of the laity.
6. A little bit.

Pronunciado como (IPA)

/ˈpɑːtɪk(ə)l/

Etimologia (Inglês)

From Middle French particule, and its source, Latin particula (“small part, particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”).