'electron' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'ēlektron' (ἤλεκτρον), where 'ēlektron' meant 'amber'.

'ēlektron' (Greek) passed into Latin as 'electrum' meaning 'amber'; from 17th-century New Latin 'electricus' ('of amber' or 'related to amber/electricity') the adjective 'electric' was formed, and in the late 19th century the noun 'electron' was coined (notably by G. J. Stoney and popularized in physics after J. J. Thomson's discoveries) to name the fundamental negatively charged particle.

Initially it meant 'amber' (a material that when rubbed shows static electricity). Over time it evolved to mean 'a unit or particle associated with electric charge' and finally the modern scientific meaning 'a negatively charged subatomic particle'.