Word.ws English Dictionary

-on

/-ɒn/

-on suffix: forming nouns denoting subatomic particles and quanta.

Suffix (1)

-on

  1. Forming nouns denoting subatomic particles and quanta.
    • photon, proton

Suffix (2)

-on

  1. Forming names of noble gases and certain nonmetal elements.
    • boron, silicon

Suffix (3)

-on

  1. Forming names of things considered as basic or fundamental units.
    • codon, recon

Suffix (4)

-on

  1. Forms names for chemical compounds, often proprietary.

Origin of -on

Back-formation from electron, influenced by Ancient Greek -ον (-on).

Back-formation from carbon, first applied to boron and then to silicon.

From the combining form of -one, as in sulfon-ic. Compare also -thion.

Words formed from -on

Questions about -on

What does -on mean?
-on means forming nouns denoting subatomic particles and quanta.
What part of speech is -on?
-on is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -on?
-on is pronounced /-ɒn/.

Words near -on in the dictionary

  1. -omic
  2. -omics
  3. -omino
  4. -omize
  5. -omy
  6. -on
  7. -oncus
  8. -one
  9. -onic
  10. -onidine
  11. -onium

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame--on.wav.

Cite this entry: “-on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.