nanotechnology
Meaning of nanotechnology: Nanotechnology engineers materials at the scale of individual atoms and molecules, with applications spanning electronics, materials science, and medicine.
Definition of nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is a field of science and engineering concerned with designing, building, and manipulating materials and devices at an extremely small scale, generally involving structures less than about 100 nanometers, a size at which materials can behave quite differently from the same substance in bulk form.
Because matter at this scale can display distinct physical, chemical, and biological properties, nanotechnology has applications across many fields, including electronics, materials science, and energy, as well as medicine, where nanoscale materials are being developed for uses such as delivering drugs more precisely to a specific target, improving the sensitivity of diagnostic tests, and creating novel imaging agents.
Because nanotechnology is defined by scale rather than by any single material or method, it spans an unusually broad range of techniques and applications, and research into its medical uses remains an active and evolving area alongside its more established uses in other industries.
Used in a sentence
Researchers are studying a nanotechnology based method for delivering medication more precisely to affected tissue.
Good to know
Nanotechnology is defined by the scale of the materials involved rather than by any single technique or purpose, so the term covers a wide range of applications well beyond its uses in medicine.
Word origin
Where “nanotechnology” comes from
Formed from Greek nanos, meaning dwarf, combined with tekhne, meaning skill or craft, and logia, meaning the study of.