quark

See also: Quark

English

Etymology 1

Coined by American physicist Murray Gell-Mann in 1963. The literary connection to James Joyce's Finnegans Wake was asserted later.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kwôk, IPA^(key): /kwɔːk/; enPR: kwäk, IPA^(key): /kwɑːk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: kwôrk, IPA^(key): /kwɔɹk/; enPR: kwärk, IPA^(key): /kwɑɹk/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)k, -ɑː(ɹ)k

Noun

quark (plural quarks)

2. (physics) In the Standard Model, an elementary subatomic particle that forms matter. They combine to form hadrons, such as protons and neutrons.

   Synonym: (obsolete) ace

   • 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, page 146:

     There were also particles no one had predicted that just appeared. Five of them […, i]n order of increasing modernity, […] are the neutrino, the pi meson, the antiproton, the quark and the Higgs boson.

3. (computing, X Window System) An integer that uniquely identifies a text string.
   • 2012, Keith D. Gregory, Programming with Motif, page 453:

     Two functions are provided to convert between strings and quarks: XrmStringToQuark and XrmQuarkToString […]

4. (slang, X Window System) A nonsense, trivial text string.

Hyponyms

• anti-beauty quark
• anti-bottom quark
• anti-charm quark
• anti-down quark
• anti-strange quark
• anti-top quark
• anti-up quark
• beauty quark
• bottom quark
• charm quark
• down quark
• strange quark
• top quark
• truth quark
• up quark

Derived terms

• antiquark
• biquark
• charmed quark
• diquark
• hexaquark
• interquark
• multiquark
• pentaquark
• prequark
• quagma
• quark-antiquark
• quark-gluon plasma
• quarkless
• quark matter
• quark model
• quark nova
• quark nugget
• quarkonic
• quarkonium
• quark star
• quark theory
• quarkyonic
• quink
• sea quark
• squark
• strange quark matter
• strange quark star
• subquark
• techniquark
• tetraquark
• triquark

Translations

physics: an elementary subatomic particle

• Arabic: كِوَرْكٌ m (kiwark·un)
• Armenian: քվարկ (hy) (kʻvark)
• Basque: quark
• Bengali: কোয়ার্ক (bn) (kōẇark)
• Bulgarian: кварк m (kvark)
• Catalan: quark (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 夸克 (kwaa¹ hak¹)

  Mandarin: 夸克 (zh) (kuā kè), 層子 / 层子 (zh) (céngzǐ)

• Czech: kvark (cs) m
• Danish: kvark (da) ?
• Dutch: quark (nl) m
• Esperanto: kvarko
• Faroese: kvarkur m
• Finnish: kvarkki (fi)
• French: quark (fr) m
• Georgian: კვარკი (ḳvarḳi)
• German: Quark (de) n
• Greek: κουάρκ (el) n (kouárk)
• Hindi: क्वार्क m (kvārk)
• Hungarian: kvark (hu)
• Icelandic: kvarki (is) m
• Ido: quarko (io)
• Indonesian: kuark (id)
• Irish: cuarc m
• Italian: quark (it) m
• Japanese: クォーク (ja) (kuwōku)
• Korean: 쿼크 (kwokeu), 쿼크모형 (kwokeumohyeong)
• Latin: quarcum n, quaricum
• Macedonian: ква́рк m (kvárk)
• Malay: kuark
• Persian: کوارک (fa) (kuârk)
• Polish: kwark (pl) m
• Portuguese: quark (pt) m
• Russian: кварк (ru) m (kvark)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ква̏рк m

  Roman: kvȁrk (sh) m

• Slovak: kvark (sk) m
• Slovene: kvark (sl) m
• Spanish: quark (es) m
• Swedish: kvark (sv) c
• Turkish: kuark (tr)
• Ukrainian: кварк m (kvark)
• Urdu: کوارک m (kvārk)
• Vietnamese: quắc (vi)

Etymology 2

Quark cheese (sense 1) in Germany

Borrowed from German Quark, from late Middle High German twarc, from a West Slavic language (compare Polish twaróg), from Proto-Slavic *tvarogъ. Doublet of tvorog.

Noun

quark (uncountable)

2. A soft creamy cheese, eaten throughout northern, central, eastern, and southeastern Europe, as well as the Low Countries.

Translations

soft creamy cheese

• Abkhaz: аҳаҭашә (aḥataŝʷ)
• Armenian: կաթնաշոռ (hy) sg (katʻnašoṙ)
• Azerbaijani: kəsmik sg
• Bats: კალტ (ḳalṭ)
• Belarusian: тваро́г m (tvaróh)
• Bulgarian: извара f (izvara)
• Chechen: кӏалд (kʼald)
• Chuvash: тӑпӑрчӑ (tăp̬ărč̬ă)
• Czech: tvaroh (cs) m
• Danish: kvark (da) c
• Dutch: kwark (nl) m, plattekaas (nl) m
• Estonian: kohupiim
• Faroese: kvarkur m
• Finnish: maitorahka, rahka (fi)
• French: fromage blanc (fr) m, caillé (fr) m, faisselle (fr) f, (Belgium) maquée (fr), quark (fr) m
• Galician: quark (gl) m
• Georgian: ხაჭო (xač̣o)
• German: Quark (de) m, Topfen (de) m (Bavaria, Austria)
• Hungarian: túró (hu)
• Ido: kazeo (io)
• Ingush: кӏолд (kʼold)
• Japanese: クワルク (ja) (kuwaruku), クォークチーズ (kuōku chīzu)
• Kashubian: glëmza ?, glëmza ?
• Korean: 크바르크 (keubareukeu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: toraq

• Latvian: biezpiens (lv) m, kupuša piens m pl (dated), kupināts piens m pl (dated)
• Lithuanian: varškės sūris m
• Macedonian: урда f (urda)
• Mingrelian: ხაჭო (xač̣o)
• Norwegian: kvarg m
• Polish: twaróg (pl) m, biały ser (pl) m, ser biały m
• Portuguese: quark (pt) m
• Russian: творо́г (ru) m (tvoróg), тво́рог (ru) m (tvórog)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кваргл m

  Roman: kvargl (sh) m

• Slovak: tvaroh m inan
• Spanish: requesón (es) m, quark (es) m
• Svan: ნაჴიჩუ̂ (naqičû)
• Swedish: kvarg (sv) c, kvark (sv) c, kesella (sv) c
• Ukrainian: творо́г m (tvoróh), сир (uk) m (syr)
• Uzbek: tvorog sg
• Vilamovian: twiöeg ?

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeic, from the sound of the squawk.

Noun

quark (plural quarks)

1. (Falkland Islands, informal) The black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax.

Translations

black-crowned night heron — see black-crowned night heron

See also

• hadron
• meson

Further reading

• quark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• quark (dairy product) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• quark (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Basque

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwark/ [kwark]
• Rhymes: -ark
• Hyphenation: quark

Noun

quark inan

1. (physics) quark

Declension

Declension of quark (inanimate, ending in consonant)

	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	quark	quarka	quarkak
ergative	quarkek	quarkak	quarkek
dative	quarki	quarkari	quarkei
genitive	quarken	quarkaren	quarken
comitative	quarkekin	quarkarekin	quarkekin
causative	quarkengatik	quarkarengatik	quarkengatik
benefactive	quarkentzat	quarkarentzat	quarkentzat
instrumental	quarkez	quarkaz	quarkez
inessive	quarketan	quarkean	quarketan
locative	quarketako	quarkeko	quarketako
allative	quarketara	quarkera	quarketara
terminative	quarketaraino	quarkeraino	quarketaraino
directive	quarketarantz	quarkerantz	quarketarantz
destinative	quarketarako	quarkerako	quarketarako
ablative	quarketatik	quarketik	quarketatik
partitive	quarkik	—	—
prolative	quarktzat	—	—

Further reading

• “quark”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Catalan

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. (physics) quark

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: kwark

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. (physics) quark

French

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwaʁk/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. (physics) quark

Galician

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. (physics) quark

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwark/
• Rhymes: -ark
• Hyphenation: quàrk

Noun

quark m (invariable)

1. (physics) quark

Derived terms

• quarkonio

Further reading

• quark in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaʁ.ki/ [ˈkwah.ki]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaʁ.ki/ [ˈkwah.ki]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɾ.ki/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaʁ.ki/ [ˈkwaχ.ki]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɻ.ke/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɾ.kɨ/

Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. (physics) quark (an elementary subatomic particle which forms matter)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Quark.

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. quark (soft creamy cheese)

Further reading

• “quark”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “quark”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), Porto: 7Graus, 2009–2025
• “quark”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2025
• “quark”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “quark”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “quark”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cuark, cuarc

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English quark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɾk/ [ˈkwaɾk]
• Rhymes: -aɾk
• Syllabification: quark

Noun

quark m (plural quarks)

1. quark

   Hypernyms: fermión, partícula elemental

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Hyponyms

• quarks: quark: quark arriba · quark abajo · quark encantado · quark extraño · quark cima · quark fondo ^[edit]

Further reading

• “quark”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10