An obsolete or variant spelling of cation, the positively charged ion that moves toward the cathode in electrolysis.
From Greek kata- ('down') plus ion. This older spelling reflects 19th century chemistry terminology before modern standardization of -tion and -ion suffixes.
The confusion between 'cathion' and 'cation' shows how science terminology gets cleaned up—modern chemists stick with 'cation' because it's shorter and clearer!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.