Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1900-2000
Origin: Invented by Murray Gell-Mann (born 1929), U.S. scientist, based on the phrase "three quarks for Muster Mark" in Finnegans Wake (1939) by James Joyce; because originally there were thought to be three quarks

quark

 noun
     
Related topics: Physics
quark [countable]
technicalHP a very small part of something, which is smaller than an atom
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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