ylem
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y·lem
(ī′ləm)n.
A form of matter hypothesized by proponents of the Big Bang theory to have existed before the formation of the chemical elements.
[Middle English, universal matter, from Old French ilem, from Medieval Latin hȳlem, accusative of hȳlē, matter, from Greek hūlē.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ylem
(ˈaɪləm)n
(Astronomy) the original matter from which the basic elements are said to have been formed following the explosion postulated in the big bang theory of cosmology
[Middle English, from Old French ilem, from Latin hӯlē stuff, matter, from Greek hulē wood, matter]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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| Noun | 1. | ylem - (cosmology) the original matter that (according to the big bang theory) existed before the formation of the chemical elements matter - that which has mass and occupies space; "physicists study both the nature of matter and the forces which govern it" |
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