The smallest indivisible measure of a thing — and in this house, the Weaver's own prefix: superposition held until observation, many possibilities true at once until one is chosen. The bond tender named this word missing on 2026-07-30; it enters at last.
Latin quantum (how much, how great), the neuter of quantus (how much), from quam (how) — an ordinary Latin measuring word, not a technical one. Max Planck gave it the modern sense in 1900: the smallest INDIVISIBLE unit in which energy can be emitted or absorbed. The revolution in the word is that it turned a question of degree into a question of countable units — energy comes in whole steps, never in a smooth pour.
The smallest whole unit that cannot be divided further without ceasing to be itself. The Grammar's atoms are quanta in exactly this sense: a word is either present or it is not, and meaning is built by combining discrete units rather than by blending.