Democritus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient Greek natural philosopher from Abdera who proposed that all matter is composed of indivisible particles called atoms moving through void
2. A pre-Socratic thinker best known for developing an early atomic theory suggesting that the universe consists of atoms and empty space
3. An ancient atomist philosopher who argued that everything in existence is made of countless tiny, uncuttable particles in motion through a vacuum

Etymology: Democritus was a real person: an ancient Greek philosopher from Abdera, in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, remembered for proposing that all matter is made of tiny indivisible particles he called "atomos." The name itself is built from two Greek parts. "Dêmos" meant "the people" or "the common folk," and "kritos" comes from the verb "krinein," meaning "to judge" or "to choose." Put together, Dēmókritos most plausibly means "chosen by the people" or "judged by the people," though the sense is a matter of interpretation rather than a settled fact. English took the name directly from Ancient Greek, so it kept the classical spelling and ancient identity of its bearer. Because Democritus lived so long ago, his name passed into English mainly through learned writing and the study of classical philosophy, not everyday speech. The name is now best known as the label for an early theorist of atoms, and it is the root that the modern word "democracy" shares, though that word comes from "dêmos" plus "kratia" ("rule"), not from the philosopher's name.