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-tron

 - 3 dictionary results

-tron

a combining form extracted from electron, used with nouns or combining forms, principally in the names of electron tubes (ignitron; klystron; magnetron) and of devices for accelerating subatomic particles (cosmotron; cyclotron); also, more generally, in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments (biotron).

Origin:
by initial shortening of electron, with perh. accidental allusion to the Gk instrumental suffix -tron, as in árotron plough
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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-tron  
suff.  
  1. Vacuum tube: dynatron.

  2. Device for manipulating subatomic particles: betatron.


[Greek, instrumental n. suff.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

-tron 
as a suffix in new compounds formed in physics, 1939, abstracted from electron (Gk. -tron was an instrumentive suffix).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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