atomy

atomy

English

WOTD – 25 February 2026

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

A variant of atomi, the plural of atomus (“hypothetical particle posited as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter; mote of dust in a sunbeam”) treated as a singular form.[1] Atomus is derived from Latin atomus, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”, adjective), from ᾰ̓- (ă-, prefix forming terms having an opposite sense) + τομ- (tom-) (stem of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns of action or result). Doublet of atom.

Noun

atomy (plural atomy or atomies)

  1. A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 199:
      Thou tellſt me there is murder in mine eye, / 'Tis pretty ſure, and very probable, / That eyes, that are the frailſt and ſofteſt things, / VVho ſhut their covvard gates on atomyes, / Should be called tyrants, butchers, murtherers.
      Phebe, a shepherdess, mocks Silvius, a shepherd, by saying that it is probable that eyes, which are the frailest and softest things, and shut their eyelids (“coward gates”) when encountering tiny particles, are murderers.
    • 1859, Charles Dickens, “The Wine-shop”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book I (Recalled to Life), page 19:
      […] Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. […] Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.
    2. A floating mote or speck of dust.
    3. (archaic) The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something; an atom.
      • 1595, Iruis [i.e., Gervase] Markham, The Most Honorable Tragedie of Sir Richard Grinuile, Knight, London: […] I. Roberts, for Richard Smith, →OCLC; republished in Edward Arber, editor, The Last Fight of the Revenge at Sea; under the Command of Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Grenville, on the 10–11th of September, 1591. Described by Sir Walter Raleigh, November, 1591. Gervase Markham, 1595. and Jan Huygen van ’Linschoten, in Dutch, 1596; English, 1598; and Latin, 1599 (English Reprints), Southgate, London: [Muir and Paterson, […]], 15 November 1871, →OCLC, page 55:
        Spayne then enamour'd with the Romane trull, / Calls all her forces, more then Atomies, / And tells Ill-fortunes ſtorie to the full; […]
      • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 196, column 2:
        It is as eaſie to count Atomies as to reſolue the propoſitions of a Louer: […]
      • [1609, Robert Cawdrey, T[homas] C[awdrey], “atomie”, in A Table Alphabeticall: Conteyning and Teaching the True Writing and Vnderstanding of Hard Vsuall English Wordes, Borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine, or French &c. […], 2nd edition, London: […] T. S. for Edmund Weauer, […], →OCLC, signature B3, verso:
        atomie, […] a thing ſo ſmall that it cannot bée deuided.]
      • 1610, Gervase Markham, “Of the Foure Elements, Their Vertues and Operations”, in Markhams Maister-peece. Or, What doth a Horse-man Lacke. Containing All Possible Knowledge whatsoeuer which doth Belong to any Smith, Farrier, or Horse-leech, Touching the Curing of All Manner of Diseases or Sorrances in Horses; […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson, […], →OCLC, 1st book (Containing All Cures Physicall, […]), page 4:
        Laſtly, it [an element] is the leaſt part or Atomie of that thing vvhich is made, or proceedeth from it.
      • 1611, J[ohn] Donne, “An Anatomie of the World. Wherein, by Occasion of the Untimely Death of Mistris Elizabeth Drury, the Frailty and the Decay of this Whole World is Represented. The First Anniversary.”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 242:
        And freely men confeſſe that this vvorld's ſpent, / VVhen in the Planets, and the firmament / They ſeeke ſo many nevv; they ſee that this / Is crumbled out againe to his Atomies. / 'Tis all in peeces, all coherence gone; […]
      • 1612 (date written), T. R., “Newes, from Any Whence: Or Old Truthes vnder a Supposall of Noueltie. […]. Country Newes.”, in Thomas Overburye [i.e. Thomas Overbury], A Wife Now the Widdow of Sir Thomas Overburye. Being a Most Exquisite and Singular Poem of the Choice of a Wife. […], London: […] [Edward Griffin] for Lawrence Lisle, […], published 1614, →OCLC, signature G, verso:
        [C]ircumſtances are the atomies of policie, cenſure the being, action the life, but ſucceſſe the ornament.
      • 1622, Michael Drayton, “The Fiue and Twentieth Song”, in The Second Part, or A Continuance of Poly-Olbion from the Eighteenth Song. […], London: […] Augustine Mathewes for Iohn Marriott, Iohn Grismand, and Thomas Dewe, →OCLC, page 109:
        Thinke not that all betvvixt the VVherpoole, and the Sprat, / I goe about to name, that vvere to take in hand, / The Atomy to tell, or to caſt vp the ſand; […]
        The author says the reader should not think that he intends to name all sea creatures from the “whirlpool” (a type of large whale) to the tiny sprat, as this would be like counting atoms or grains of sand.
      • 1641, Thomas Herbert, An Elegie upon the Death of Thomas Earle of Strafford, Lord Lievtenant of Ireland. […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 6:
        [P]raiſe thy God, / O be not ſelfe-conceited, leaſt his rod / Doe bruiſe thee into Atomies;
  2. (figurative, archaic except UK, dialectal) A very small being; a mite.
    Synonym: (UK, informal) titch
Translations

Etymology 2

From atom +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’).

Adjective

atomy (comparative more atomy, superlative most atomy)

  1. Made up of tiny particles.
    Synonym: atomic
  2. Resembling a tiny particle; atomlike.
    Synonym: atomic
    • 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XXXV, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 398:
      Hour after hour we slopped along, by the roaring torrent, and under noble Lesser Alps which were clothed in rich velvety green all the way up and had little atomy Swiss homes perched upon grassy benches along their mist-dimmed heights.
    • 1894 May 4, Richard Henry Savage, chapter VIII, in The Princess of Alaska: A Tale of Two Countries. […], Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Rand, McNally & Company, published [1897], →OCLC, book II (Under a New Flag), page 235:
      Imagination can not paint a history with as many unturned leaves, with the print of the Creator fresh in fadeless colors, as that of the atomy speck, hurled through space, which we mortals call the world!— […]
Translations

Etymology 3

Rebracketing of anatomy (“skeleton”) as an atomy;[2] compare notomy.

Noun

atomy (plural atomies)

  1. (archaic) A skeleton. [from 16th c.]
    Synonym: (UK, dialectal, obsolete) notomy
  2. (figurative)
    1. (UK, dialectal) A person who is very emaciated or thin; a skeleton.
      Synonyms: bag of bones, (UK, dialectal, obsolete) notomy, skin and bones; see also Thesaurus:thin person
    2. (obsolete) Chiefly in the works of the English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870): a thing which is very slender and weak.
      • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “In which the Wooden Midshipman Gets into Trouble”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 86:
        [T]he contents of his plate chest, consisting of two withered atomies of teaspoons, and an obsolete pair of knock-knee'd sugar tongs; […]
      • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Home”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, 1st book (Poverty), page 28:
        They mounted up and up, through the musty smell of an old close house, little used, to a large garret bed-room. Meagre and spare, like all the other rooms, it was even uglier and grimmer than the rest, by being the place of banishment for the worn out furniture. Its moveables were […] a bedstead with four bare atomies of posts, each terminating in a spike, as if for the dismal accommodation of lodgers who might prefer to impale themselves.
Translations

References

  1. ^ “atomy, n.1”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025.
  2. ^ “atomy, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022; compare “atomy, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025.

Further reading

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aˈtɔ.mɘ/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔmɘ
  • Syllabification: a‧to‧my

Noun

atomy m

  1. nominative plural of atom
  2. accusative plural of atom
  3. vocative plural of atom
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