electron
ee-LEK-tron · noun
English
Origin
Coined in 1891 by Anglo-Irish scientist George Stoney as a blend of electric and ion, after he'd tried out electrine (as early as 1874) and electrolion before settling on this form.
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Journey
Stoney originally meant it for the electric charge carried by a univalent ion, not a particle. When the particle itself was discovered in 1896, a rival name, electrion, was floated in 1906 but dropped once Hendrik Lorentz favored electron instead.
Related words
It's built from electro- plus the suffix -on, the same ending pattern later particle names would borrow.