Transistor

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /tɹænˈzɪs.tɚ/

Definitions

1. A solid-state device that regulates current flow and enhances electronic signals
2. An essential electronic component that manages electrical signals and serves as an amplifier or switch in circuits
3. A semiconductor device that controls current flow and can amplify signals or act as a switch in electronic circuits

Etymology: The word was coined in 1947 at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where American engineer John Robinson Pierce proposed it as a blend of "transfer" and "resistor." His reasoning rested on "transresistance," the idea that the device could act as a resistor whose resistance is controlled by the signal passing through it, with the "trans" prefix signalling that the component transfers signals across a circuit while varying resistance. The device itself had been invented only months earlier, in December 1947, by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, and the name was chosen to describe what it did rather than what it was made of. Pierce's coinage was a deliberately practical piece of engineering vocabulary, built from two ordinary words to name a new kind of component.

Synonyms: semiconductor, amplifier, switch, modulator, oscillator