nucleus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The central part of an atom, made of protons and neutrons.

   An atom has a dense nucleus surrounded by electrons.

2. 2
   noun

   The central part of a cell that controls its growth and contains its DNA.

   The nucleus carries the cell's genetic information.

3. 3
   noun

   The central or most important part of something, around which the rest is built.

   These few players form the nucleus of the new team.

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *knuks Latin nux Latin nucleuslbor. English nucleus Learned borrowing from Latin nucleus (“kernel, core”). The earliest uses refer to the head of a comet and the kernel of a seed, both recorded in Lexicon Technicum in 1704. The sense in atomic physics was coined by British scientist Michael Faraday in 1844 in a theoretical meaning.

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