molecula

From Latin molecula.

molecula (plural moleculae)

1. (now historical) A molecule; a small particle of something. [from 18th c.]
   • 1751, John Locke, Elements of Natural Philosophy, section XII:

     Smal bodies, of Atoms, out of whose various combinations bigger molleculæ are made.

   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009:

     They acted by the ancient organized states in the shape of their old organization, and not by the organic moleculae of a disbanded people.

• mōlēcola

Derived from mōlēs (“mass”) +‎ -cula (diminutive suffix). Coined by René Descartes in the 1620s. Modern meaning first used by Amedeo Avogadro in 1811.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /moːˈleː.ku.la/, [moːˈɫ̪eːkʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /moˈle.ku.la/, [moˈlɛːkulä]

mōlēcula f (genitive mōlēculae); first declension

1. (New Latin, chemistry) molecule

First-declension noun.

• molecula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• molecula in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016