fission

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fissiōnem, accusative singular of fissiō (“the act of breaking up”), from findō (“split, divide”).

noun

1. The process whereby one item splits to become two.
2. (nuclear physics) Short for nuclear fission: The process of splitting the nucleus of an atom into smaller particles.
3. (biology) The process by which a bacterium splits to form two daughter cells.

verb

1. (transitive) To cause to undergo fission.
2. (intransitive) To undergo fission.