What does atomy mean?
"Atomy" is a rare English noun meaning a minute particle or fragment of matter, by extension anything of vanishingly small size or significance. The word derives from the same root as "atom," ultimately from Greek atomos, meaning "uncuttable" or indivisible, and it preserves that original sense of the irreducibly small more literally than its better-known cousin does. In earlier centuries, especially in Elizabethan drama, "atomy" carried a second, vividly figurative sense: an extremely thin person, a walking skeleton, or a wizened figure. Shakespeare uses it in this way, mocking frail characters as mere atomies. Today both senses are archaic or literary, and readers are likeliest to meet the word in classic plays, poetry, or antiquarian prose rather than everyday speech. It offers writers an evocative, slightly antique alternative to words like mote, speck, or particle when they want to lend a passage a touch of early-modern flavor.
A minute particle or fragment of matter; something extremely small or insignificant.
"The morning light caught every atomy of dust drifting through the room."
(Archaic) An extremely thin person; a skeleton or wizened figure.
"He was such an atomy that the slightest wind seemed likely to carry him off."
This sense is found chiefly in early modern literature, including Shakespeare, and is not current in modern usage.
The standard plural replaces the final y with ies.
"Atomies of pollen floated across the beam of light."
Shakespeare used "atomy" to mean a skinny skeleton — and it's also one of the few English words that rhymes with "dichotomy."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of atomy
"Atomy" entered English from Latin atomus, borrowed from Greek atomos, meaning "uncut, indivisible," formed from a- ("not") plus tomos ("a cutting"). It arose in the sixteenth century alongside "atom," which came through the same route, and for a time both words coexisted with overlapping senses relating to tiny particles. The later literary sense of a skeletal or emaciated figure developed figuratively from the idea of something shrunk down to bare fragments.
How atomy is actually used
"Atomy" is rare today and belongs chiefly to literary or historical registers. Readers will most often encounter it in early modern English texts, notably Shakespeare. Its sense as "skeleton" or scrawny person is distinctly archaic; the particle sense survives only in elevated or deliberately old-fashioned writing.
Easily confused with atomy
"Anatomy" is the study of bodily structure or the structure itself, while "atomy" is a now-rare word for a minute particle or, historically, an emaciated body or skeleton.