noun

das Teilchen, –

particle

Teilchen means “small part,” “tiny piece,” or “particle.” It is the diminutive form of Teil and can be used in several contexts:

A small piece or tiny object
It can refer to a small, individual piece of something:
- ein Teilchen Schokolade — a little piece of chocolate
- Staubteilchen — a dust particle
A particle in physics or chemistry
In scientific language, Teilchen refers to a particle, such as an atom, molecule, electron, or other subatomic entity:
- elementare Teilchen — elementary particles
- Teilchenphysik — particle physics
A small component or constituent
It may describe something that forms part of a larger whole:
- Die Gesellschaft besteht aus vielen einzelnen Teilchen. — Society consists of many individual components.

The word can sometimes sound slightly informal or affectionate because of its diminutive form.

Article: das Teilchen
Plural: die Teilchen
The singular and plural forms are identical.
It is formed from Teil (“part”) with the diminutive suffix -chen .
Nouns ending in -chen are always neuter in German and usually undergo an umlaut when possible. In this case, no umlaut is needed: Teil becomes Teilchen.

Partikel — “particle”; common in scientific and linguistic contexts. It is more technical and less diminutive than Teilchen.
Körnchen — “tiny grain” or “small granule”; mainly used for granular or powdery substances.
Bruchstück — “fragment” or “broken-off piece”; emphasizes that something has broken off from a larger object.
Bestandteil — “component” or “constituent”; focuses on a part’s function within a whole rather than its small size.

There is no exact general antonym. Depending on the context, possible opposites include:

das Ganze — “the whole,” emphasizing the complete entity rather than one small part.
die Gesamtheit — “the totality” or “the entirety,” especially when referring to all components collectively.

ein kleines Teilchen — a small particle or tiny piece
ein Staubteilchen — a dust particle
ein Sandteilchen — a grain of sand
ein Elementarteilchen — an elementary particle
Teilchenphysik — particle physics
Teilchen und Welle — particle and wave, as in the wave–particle duality of physics

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Sie untersucht die Bewegung der Teilchen im Experiment.noun

She investigates the movement of the particles in the experiment.

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