Nanomotor

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tiny engine built at the scale of molecules that converts energy into mechanical movement for use in medicine or nanotechnology
2. A minuscule device, only a few nanometers across, designed to generate motion from chemical or physical energy
3. An extremely small machine operating at the nanoscale that produces controlled movement within biological or engineered systems

Etymology: A nanomotor is a machine so small that its working parts are measured in nanometres, a billionth of a metre, and the word is simply a compound built from two existing pieces. The first, "nano-", comes from the Greek "nanos", meaning "dwarf", and entered scientific use as a prefix meaning one billionth. The second, "motor", comes from Latin "motor", "mover", from "movere", "to move", and has long described any device that produces motion from some form of energy. Joined together, the pieces describe exactly what the thing does: a motor, scaled down to molecular dimensions. The word therefore carries no hidden metaphor, and its meaning follows directly from the parts it was built from.

Synonyms: nanomachine, molecular motor