transistor

Blend of transfer +‎ resistor. Said to have been coined by American engineer John Robinson Pierce in 1947, who used transresistance as the basis for forming transistor.

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor (plural transistors)

2. (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).

3. (dated, informal, metonymic) 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): /tɾansisˈtoɾ/ [t̪ɾãn.sis̪ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

• “transistor”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1ª edición, Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, 2000, →ISBN

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [tɾən.zisˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [tɾan.zisˈtoɾ]

transistor m (plural transistors)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

• “transistor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “transistor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “transistor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “transistor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): [tʁɑnˈsisdʌ]

transistor c (singular definite transistoren, plural indefinite transistorer)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

• “transistor” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): /trɑnˈzɪstɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor m (plural transistoren or transistors, diminutive transistortje n)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

• “transistor” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]
• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “transistor”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001
• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “transistor”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): /tʁɑ̃.zis.tɔʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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transistor m (plural transistors)

1. (semiconductors) 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

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): /tɾansisˈtoɾ/ [t̪ɾan.s̺is̺ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

• “transistor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Internationalism, borrowed from English transistor.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /tranˈsistor/ [t̪ranˈsis.t̪ɔr]
• Rhymes: -istor
• Syllabification: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor (plural transistor-transistor)

1. (electronics) transistor

• “transistor”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Borrowed from English transistor.

• IPA^(key): /tranˈsis.tor/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -istor
• Hyphenation: tran‧sì‧stor

transistor m (invariable)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

• fototransistor

Borrowed from English transistor.

transistor m (definite singular transistoren, indefinite plural transistorer, definite plural transistorene)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

• “transistor” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from English transistor.

transistor m (definite singular transistoren, indefinite plural transistorar, definite plural transistorane)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

• “transistor” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (Brazil) alternative form of transístor

• “transistor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “transistor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

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. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

• “transistor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from English transistor.

transistor c

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

   Synonym: transistorradio

• transistor in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker