transistor

Blend of transfer +‎ resistor. Said to have been coined by American engineer John Robinson Pierce in 1947.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɹænˈzɪs.tɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)

transistor (plural transistors)

1. (semiconductors) A solid-state semiconductor device, with three terminals, which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation, and many other functions.
   • 2017 October, “Snap Circuits Light”, in Snap Circuits‎^[1], Elenco, pages 9, 59:

     Switches and transistors control the flow of electricity like valves and faucets control water. Resistors limit the flow of electricity. […] Light is transmitted from the color LED, through the fiber optic cable, to control the NPN transistor (Q2) and red LED (D1).

2. (dated, informal) A transistor radio.
   • 1978, Billy Joel, Half a Mile Away:

     Turn your transistor on and let the music play

Transistors, when referring to semiconductor components, may encompass field-effect transistors (FETs), unijunction transistors (UJTs), or bipolar junction transistors (BJTs); however, often the bipolar type is assumed.

• transistor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): /tʁɑ̃.zis.tɔʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio:

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transistor m (plural transistors)

1. transistor
2. (metonymic) transistor radio
   • 1982, “Un été sans toi”, performed by Charles Aznavour:

     Sur mon matelas / Je rêve à ton corps / Soûlé par la voix / De mon transistor

     On my mattress / I dream of your body / Reeling from the voice / On my transistor

• “transistor”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. a transistor (semiconductor device)
2. a transistor radio

Internationalism, borrowed from English transistor.

transistor (plural transistor-transistor)

1. (electronics) transistor

• “transistor” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from English transistor.

transistor m (invariable)

1. transistor (device)
2. transistor radio

• fototransistor

• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (Brazil) alternative form of transístor

transistor n (plural transistoare)

1. alternative form of tranzistor

• IPA^(key): /tɾansisˈtoɾ/ [t̪ɾãn.sisˈt̪oɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. transistor

• “transistor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

transistor c

1. (electronics) a transistor (semiconductor component)
2. (dated) a transistor, a transistor radio