neon [L19th] This gas, used in fluorescent lamps and illuminated advertising signs, was named in 1898 by its discoverers, the scientists Sir William Ramsay and M. W. Travers. Neon is simply the Greek word for ‘new thing’. The same Greek word is the source of the many English words that start with neo- and refer to a new or revived form of something, such as neoclassical [L19th], neocolonialism [M20th], and neo-Nazi, a word that appeared in 1944 before the Nazis had even been ousted from power.