| atomic unit |
| Definition: The smallest unit that higher-level units are constructed from. |
| Example:
The atomic unit called the phoneme is the smallest unit of meaningful sound. Note: Some others are: graphemes, lexemes, morphemes, sememes, and tonemes |
| Etymology: The word atomic derives via Latin from the Greek atomos, uncut (from a, not + tomos, a cutting). The key idea is that an atom is something that cannot be broken up into smaller units. |