nanocrystal
/ˈnanə(ʊ)ˌkrɪstl/Materials Sci.
noun
A crystal with dimensions of a few nanometres. Also: a polycrystal in which the individual crystallites are of this size (often with a significant proportion of the atoms lying within disordered grain-boundary regions).
Origin
1980s; earliest use found in Physics Letters. From nano- + crystal.