quark
UK[kwɑːk]US[kwɔːrk]
n
(physics) any of several types of very small elementary particles that are fundamental constituents of matter, combining to form hadrons such as protons and neutrons.
Etymology
The word 'quark' was coined by physicist Murray Gell-Mann in 1963. He took the term from James Joyce's experimental novel Finnegans Wake (1939), specifically the nonsensical line "Three quarks for Muster Mark!" Gell-Mann intended the word to sound like "kwork" but was influenced by the existing English word 'quark'. Its adoption into physics represents a rare case of a literary invention being repurposed as a precise scientific term, naming the fundamental building blocks of protons and neutrons. The whimsical origin stands in contrast to the word's profound significance in the Standard Model of particle physics.
Analysis
This is a modern coinage with no meaningful morphemes in the traditional sense. It is a loanword adopted from literature into scientific terminology.
Examples
Protons and neutrons are each composed of three quarks.
The strange quark has a property called strangeness.
Scientists study how quarks are bound together by the strong force.