upsilon

[ yoop-suh-lon, -luhn, uhp-; especially British yoop-sahy-luhn ]

noun
  1. the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).

  2. the vowel sound represented by this letter.

  1. Also called upsilon particle. Physics. any of a family of heavy, short-lived, neutral mesons that are composed of a bottom quark and its antiquark. Symbol: Υ, υ

Origin of upsilon

1
First recorded in 1615–25; from Late Greek ŷ psīlón, literally, “simple u” (to distinguish it from the digraph oi, pronounced the same in Late Greek )

Words Nearby upsilon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use upsilon in a sentence

  • She issued an order, therefore, that for a certain time upsilon was to have no playthings.

    Walter Pieterse | Multatuli

British Dictionary definitions for upsilon

upsilon

/ (ˈʌpsɪˌlɒn, juːpˈsaɪlən) /


noun
  1. the 20th letter in the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ), a vowel, transliterated as y or u

Origin of upsilon

1
C17: from Medieval Greek u psilon simple u, name adopted for graphic u to avoid confusion with graphic oi, since pronunciation was the same for both in Late Greek

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012