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In set theory, a singleton set is a set with just one element.

The term is not in any of my dictionaries, and the only online source I found is one page of zh.wikipedia which just transliterates it as 辛格尔顿. A search on line shows this is hardly ever used.

A friend who is not a set theorist suggests 单元 for singleton. I wonder what Chinese set theorists usually use.

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  • How about 单元素集（合）?
    – user4072
    Commented Apr 24, 2017 at 13:34
  • @songyuanyao Both Baidu and my friend go with 单元集合, but Zh.wikipedia does not. Can you recommend some set theory book in Chinese on line to look at?
    – Colin McLarty
    Commented Apr 24, 2017 at 16:45
  • You won't find the technical term in any normal dictionaries. You might need to check the corresponding textbook in Chinese version(normally will be a university textbook if it comes to set theory). Or try to look it up in special dictionaries which focus in the specific area.
    – Kevman
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 0:36
  • A tactic I commonly use is to find the term on Wikipedia, and then look for the Chinese-language version. Not infallible, but often a good start. In this case, it yields 單元素集合.
    – Brian Tung
    Commented Jul 18, 2020 at 1:34

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单元素集合 is the correct and exact word for singleton set in Chinese, confirmed by a Chinese friend of my who is a mathematician.

There is a Baidu encyclopaedia entry for 单元素集合, where it is defined as "由唯一一个元素组成的集合", i.e. a set containing a single element, followed by an example {0}.

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