Believe it or not, "tron" as a suffix is even older than the 1982 movie "Tron." Three or four thousand years older, in fact.

Nowadays people add "-tron" (or often "-o-tron") to the end of just about anything to make it sound robotic (a quick Google search brings up the Decide-o-tron, a video-game recommendation program; a database of organ music called the Tune-o-tron; and an indoor pool dehumidifier called the Dry-o-tron). However, in ancient Greece, before robots were invented, the suffix -tron meant "an instrument" according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

It picked up its scientific connotation more recently, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), as a derivative of the word "electron." That, of course, is tied into the idea of electronics, and it's not exactly light years away from there to the whatever-o-tron.

You're right that the "Transformers" toy-and-cartoon series got a lot of mileage out of those four little letters. The transformers hailed from the planet Cybertron, and included the villainous Megatron and Galvatron, and the slightly more obscure villain Banzai-tron, among other -trons.

Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided.