Skip to content

átomo

atom

noun AH-toh-moh Less Common
Animals & Nature Environment

Origin: From Greek atomos (indivisible), from a- (not) + tomos (cut).

Usage Note

Átomo carries the written accent on the first syllable, making it a proparoxytone (stress on the antepenultimate syllable)—a common stress-rule exception learners encounter. The adjective is atómico/a (bomba atómica = atomic bomb). The phrase ni un átomo de ('not a shred of') is an idiomatic intensifier.

Examples

"El átomo es la unidad básica de la materia."

Natural Translation

The atom is the basic unit of matter.

Free starter pack

Building your Spanish vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Spanish words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Spanish by topic