gluon

noun

glu·​on ˈglü-ˌän 

: a hypothetical neutral massless particle held to bind together quarks to form hadrons

Examples of gluon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The building blocks of atomic nuclei, quarks and gluons, floated around loosely in a kind of primordial soup. —Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 23 May 2026

This pattern could reveal how the quark-gluon plasma formed right after the Big Bang, indicating it could be forged by smaller particle collisions than previously thought. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 8 Apr. 2026

By studying the energy, direction, and number of D0 mesons produced, the researchers could work backward to estimate how gluons, the particles that glue quarks together, are distributed inside the nucleus. —Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 28 Mar. 2026

There are eight massless gluons that mediate the strong force, and no other particles are involved in it. —Big Think, 24 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

glue entry 1 + -on entry 2

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gluon

• aune
• bon
• bonne
• brawn
• chon
• con
• conn
• crohn
• dawn
• drawn
• fawn
• gone