molecule

See also: molécule

English

Structural formula and two molecule models (ball-and-stick and space-filling) of caffeine.

Etymology

Summary: from French molécule, from New Latin molecula (“a molecule”), diminutive of Latin moles (“a mass”); see mole.

French molécule (1674, Pierre Le Gallois, Conversations tirées de l'Académie de M. l'abbé Bourdelot, contenant diverses recherches et observations physiques) cited in Quemada, Bernard (1965), Datations et documents lexicographiques (tome 3).

Medieval Latin molecula (early XVII cent., Pierre Gassendi), cited in Le Grand Robert de la Langue Française (2e édn) tome 6. →ISBN. pp. 522–23. Diminutive of moles

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒləkjuːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑləkjul/
• Hyphenation: mol‧e‧cule

Noun

molecule (plural molecules or moleculæ)

1. (chemistry) The smallest particle of a specific element or compound that retains the chemical properties of that element or compound; two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds.

   Hydrogen chloride is a diatomic molecule, consisting of a hydrogen atom and a chlorine atom.

   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist‎^[1], Sigma Xi, OCLC 0003-0996, archived from the original on 3 September 2013:

     The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom. This system splits water molecules and delivers some of their electrons to other molecules that help build up carbohydrates.

2. A tiny amount.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:molecule
• (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.

Hyponyms

• macromolecule

Meronyms

• atom

Related terms

• molecular

Translations

group of atoms held together by chemical bonds

• Afrikaans: molekuul
• Albanian: molekulë (sq) f
• Amharic: ሞለኪውል (moläkiwl)
• Arabic: جُزَيْء‎ m (juzayʾ)
• Aragonese: molecula
• Armenian: մոլեկուլ (hy) (molekul)
• Assamese: অণু (onu)
• Asturian: molécula f
• Azerbaijani: molekul
• Basque: molekula (eu)
• Belarusian: мале́кула f (maljékula)
• Bengali: অণু (bn) (ôṇu)
• Bulgarian: моле́кула (bg) f (molékula)
• Burmese: မော်လီကျူး (my) (mauli-kyu:)
• Catalan: molècula (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 分子 (zh) (fēnzǐ)

• Czech: molekula (cs) f
• Danish: molekyle (da) n
• Dutch: molecuul (nl) n
• Esperanto: molekulo
• Faroese: mýl (fo) n
• Finnish: molekyyli (fi)
• French: molécule (fr) f
• Galician: molécula (gl) f
• Georgian: მოლეკულა (moleḳula)
• German: Molekül (de) n
• Greek: μόριο (el) n (mório)
• Gujarati: અણુ (aṇu)
• Hebrew: מוֹלֵיקוּלָה‎ f (molékula)
• Hindi: अणु (hi) m (aṇu), व्यूहाणु m (vyūhāṇu)
• Hungarian: molekula (hu)
• Icelandic: sameind (is) f, mólekúl n
• Ido: molekulo (io)
• Indonesian: molekul (id)
• Irish: móilín (ga) m
• Italian: molecola (it) f
• Japanese: 分子 (ja) (ぶんし, bunshi)
• Javanese: molekul
• Kannada: ಅಣು (kn) (aṇu)
• Kashubian: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: молекула (kk) (molekwla)
• Khmer: អណូ (km) (ʾaʾnou), ម៉ូលេគុល (mouleikul)
• Korean: 분자 (ko) (bunja) (分子 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: молекула (molekula)
• Lao: ໂມເລກຸນ (lo) (mō lē kun), ອະນຸ (’a nu)
• Latin: molecula f
• Latvian: molekula f
• Lithuanian: molekulė f
• Macedonian: молекула f (molekula)
• Malagasy: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: molekul

• Malayalam: തന്മാത്ര (ml) (tanmātra)
• Manx: co-vreneen m
• Marathi: रेनू (renū)
• Mongolian: молекул (mn) (molekul)
• Nepali: अणु (ne) (aṇu)
• Newar: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: molétchule f (Jersey)
• Norwegian: molekyl (no) n

  Nynorsk: molekyl n

• Novial: molekule
• Occitan: molecula
• Ossetian: молекулӕ (molekulæ)
• Pali: aṇu
• Pashto: مالېکول‎ m (mālekúl)
• Persian: مولکول‎ (fa) (molekul)
• Polish: cząsteczka (pl) f, molekuła (pl) f
• Portuguese: molécula (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਅਣੂ (pa) (aṇū)
• Romanian: moleculă (ro) f
• Russian: моле́кула (ru) f (molékula)
• Rusyn: моле́кула f (molékula)
• Sanskrit: घनाणु m (ghanāṇu), अणु (sa) m (aṇu)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: молекула f

  Roman: molekula (sh) f

• Sinhalese: අණුව (aṇuva)
• Slovak: molekula (sk)
• Slovene: molekula (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower: molekul

  Upper: molekul

• Spanish: molécula (es) f
• Sundanese: molekul
• Swahili: molekuli
• Swedish: molekyl (sv) c
• Tagalog: molekula, mulatil
• Tajik: молекула (molekula)
• Tamil: மூலக்கூறு (ta) (mūlakkūṟu)
• Tatar: молекула (molekula)
• Telugu: అణువు (te) (aṇuvu)
• Thai: โมเลกุล (th) (moo-lee-gun), อณู (à-nuu)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: molekül (tr)
• Turkmen: molekula
• Ukrainian: моле́кула f (molékula)
• Urdu: انو‎ m (anu), سالمہ‎ f (sālma)
• Uyghur: مولېكۇلا‎ (molëkula)
• Uzbek: molekula (uz)
• Vietnamese: phân tử (vi) (分子)
• Waray-Waray: molekula
• Yiddish: מאָלעקול‎ m (molekul)

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmoː.ləˈky.lə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧le‧cu‧le

Noun

molecule n or f or m (plural moleculen or molecules, diminutive moleculetje n)

1. Alternative form of molecuul.