quantum

English Online Dictionary. What means quantum‎? What does quantum mean?

English

Etymology

From Late Latin quantum, noun use of neuter form of Latin quantus (“how much”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɒntəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɑntəm/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): (enunciated) [ˈkʰwɑ̃ntʰə̃m], (common flapped realization) [ˈkʰwɑ̃ɾ̃ə̃m]
  • (enunciated)
  • (flapped)

Note: in General American, the enunciated form is more common when the word is used on its own; but in connected speech, when it is used as a modifier (as in quantum mechanics), the flapped form is more common.

Noun

quantum (countable and uncountable, plural quantums or quanta)

1. (now chiefly South Asia or law) The total amount of something; quantity. [from 17th c.]
   1. (law) The amount of compensation awarded to a successful party in a lawsuit.
   2. (law) The length or magnitude of the sentence handed down to someone who has been found guilty of a crime.
2. The amount or quantity observably present, or available. [from 18th c.]
3. (physics) The smallest possible, and therefore indivisible, unit of a given quantity or quantifiable phenomenon. [from 20th c.]
   • 2002, David C Cassidy et al., Understanding Physics, Birkhauser 2002, p. 602:

     The quantum of light energy was later called a photon.

4. (computing) The amount of time allocated for a thread to perform its work in a multithreaded environment.
5. (computing, uncountable) Short for quantum computing.

6. (medicine) The minimum dose of a pathogen required to cause an infection.

   Synonym: infectious dose

7. (mathematics) A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

quantum (not comparable)

1. Of a change, sudden or discrete, without intermediate stages.
2. (informal) Of a change, significant.
3. (physics) Involving quanta, quantum mechanics or other aspects of quantum physics.
   1. (computing theory) Relating to a quantum computer.

   Antonym: classical

Derived terms

Descendants

• → French: quantum
• → Portuguese: quantum

Translations

Further reading

• quantum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwantum/ [kwãn̪.t̪ũm]
• Rhymes: -antum

Noun

quantum inan

1. Alternative form of kuantu (“quantum”)

Declension

Further reading

• "quantum" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus

French

Etymology

From Latin quantum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑ̃.tɔm/, /kwɑ̃.tɔm/

Noun

quantum m (plural quanta)

1. (physics) quantum

Further reading

• “quantum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Quantum, from Latin quantum. Doublet of quanto, which was also re-borrowed with the same meaning as quantum. First attested before 1930.

Noun

quantum m (plural quanta)

1. quantum

   Synonym: quanto

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkʷan.tum/, [ˈkʷän̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkwan.tum/, [ˈkwän̪t̪um]

Adjective

quantum

1. inflection of quantus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

Determiner

quantum (with genitive)

1. (when coupled with tantum) as much of […] as

   da mihi tantum aquae quantum vini ― give me as much of water as wine

2. how high, how dear, as dear as

Derived terms

• quantum libet
• quantum meruit
• quantum satis
• quantum valebant

Descendants

• → Dutch: kvante (learned)
• → English: quantum (learned)
  • → French: quantum
  • → Portuguese: quantum
• French: quant
• → German: Quantum (learned)
• Italian: quanto
• Spanish: cuanto
• Portuguese: quanto

References

• “quantum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quantum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quantum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• quantum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
• Dizionario Latino, Olivetti

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• quântum (rare)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin quantum. Doublet of quanto.

Pronunciation

Noun

quantum m (plural quanta or (uncommon) quantuns)

1. (physics) quantum (indivisible unit of a given quantity)

Related terms

• quanto
• quântico