Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Microchip
/ˈmaɪkroʊtʃɪp/noun
A small wafer of semiconductor carrying an integrated circuit.
The Greek roots
μικρός
mikrós
small
Literally: “tiny chip”
Follow a root:μικρός11 words
The story of the word
Half Greek, half plain English. μικρός joined chip, a fragment knocked off something larger, once silicon flakes started carrying thousands of components in the 1960s and 70s. The Greek half is all over the laboratory: microscope, micron, microbe, microphone. Its exact opposite, μακρός, gives macro.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1970s
Same family
microscopemicronmicrobemicrophone
In a sentence
The vet scanned the dog's shoulder and found a microchip registered to an address two counties away.