holon
Something that is both a part and a whole.
Before an atom is an atom, it is a holon. Before a cell is a cell, it is a holon. Before an idea is an idea, it is a holon. All of them are wholes that exist in other wholes, and thus they are all whole/parts, or holons, first and foremost (long before any “particular characteristics” are singled out by us).
Where it comes from
From holo- (from Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”)) + -on (like taxon or meron). Coined by Arthur Koestler in his 1967 book The Ghost in the Machine.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry holon (CC BY-SA 4.0).