any of a class of elementary particles that have a mass greater than or equal to that of the proton, participate in strong interactions, and have a spin of 1⁄2. Baryons are either nucleons or hyperons. The baryon number is the number of baryons in a system minus the number of antibaryons
Word origin
C20: bary-, from Greek barus heavy + -on
baryon in American English
(ˈbæriˌɑn; ˈbɛriˌɑn)
noun
Particle Physics
a subatomic particle that is both a hadron and a fermion, as a nucleon or hyperon: the proton is the baryon with the smallest mass