inertia

English

Etymology

From Latin inertia (“lack of art or skill, inactivity, indolence”), from iners (“unskilled, inactive”), from in- (“without, not”) + ars (“skill, art”). The modern physics sense was first used in New Latin by Johannes Kepler.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/, /ɪˈnɝ.ʃə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃə

Noun

inertia (countable and uncountable, plural inertias or inertiae or inertiæ)

1. (physics, uncountable or countable) The property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass.
2. (figuratively) In a person, unwillingness to take action.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Chapman and Hall Limited, OCLC 1026761782, (please specify the book or page number):

     Men […] have immense irresolution and inertia.

   • 2014, Jacob Steinberg, "Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian, 9 March 2014:

     City had been woeful, their anger at their own inertia summed up when Samir Nasri received a booking for dissent, and they did not have a shot on target until the 66th minute.

3. (medicine) Lack of activity; sluggishness; said especially of the uterus, when, in labour, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased.

Synonyms

• (unwillingness to take action): idleness, laziness, sloth, slothfulness

Derived terms

• inertial
• inertia welding
• moment of inertia

Related terms

• inert
• inertness

Translations

in physics

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: инерция (bg) f (inercija)
• Catalan: inèrcia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 慣性 (zh), 惯性 (zh) (guànxìng)

• Czech: setrvačnost f
• Dutch: inertie (nl), traagheid (nl)
• Esperanto: inerteco, inerteca forto, inertforto
• Estonian: inerts, inertsus
• Finnish: hitaus (fi), inertia (fi), vitka, jatkavuus
• French: inertie (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Trägheit (de) f, Beharrungsvermögen (de) n, Beharrung f
• Greek: αδράνεια (el) f (adráneia)
• Hawaiian: ehuō
• Hungarian: tehetetlenség (hu)
• Irish: táimhe f
• Italian: inerzia (it) f
• Japanese: 慣性 (ja) (かんせい, kansei)

• Kazakh: инерция (ïnercïya)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: inerce f
• Malayalam: ജഡത്വം (jaḍatvaṃ)
• Maori: tūpuku
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: treghet (no), treighet m
• Polish: bezwładność (pl) f, inercja (pl) f
• Portuguese: inércia (pt)
• Romanian: inerție (ro) f
• Russian: ине́рция (ru) f (inɛ́rcija)
• Scottish Gaelic: do-mhùthadh m
• Spanish: inercia (es) f
• Swedish: tröghet (sv)
• Tagalog: tigal
• Telugu: జడత్వము (te) (jaḍatvamu)
• Thai: ความเฉื่อย (th) (kwaam-chʉ̀ai)
• Turkish: eylemsizlik (tr)
• Ukrainian: іне́рція f (inércija)
• Vietnamese: quán tính (vi) (慣性)

unwillingness to take action

• Arabic: عَطَالَة‎ f (ʿaṭāla)
• Bulgarian: мудност (bg) f (mudnost), вялост (bg) f (vjalost)
• Catalan: inèrcia (ca) f
• Dutch: daadloosheid (nl)
• Estonian: tegevusetus, loidus
• Finnish: vastahakoisuus (fi)
• German: Trägheit (de) f, Schwerfälligkeit f, Unbeweglichkeit f
• Hungarian: tétlenség (hu)
• Irish: spadántacht f

• Italian: inerzia (it) f
• Polish: inercja (pl) f, bezwładność (pl) f
• Portuguese: inércia (pt)
• Russian: ине́ртность (ru) f (inɛ́rtnostʹ), вя́лость (ru) f (vjálostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: leisg f, do-mhùthadh m
• Spanish: inercia (es) f
• Swedish: tröghet (sv)
• Thai: ความเฉื่อยชา
• Turkish: atalet (tr)
• Welsh: llesgedd (cy) m, syrthni m

in medicine

• Finnish: velttous (fi), inertia (fi)
• German: Reglosigkeit (de) f, Schwerfälligkeit f, Trägheit (de) f

Further reading

• “inertia” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “inertia” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• inertia at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• iranite

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Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈinertiɑ/, [ˈine̞rˌt̪iɑ]
• Rhymes: -iɑ
• Syllabification: i‧ner‧ti‧a

Noun

inertia

1. inertia

   Synonyms: hitaus, vitka, jatkavuus

Declension

Inflection of inertia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		inertia	inertiat
genitive		inertian	inertioiden inertioitten
partitive		inertiaa	inertioita
illative		inertiaan	inertioihin
		singular	plural
nominative		inertia	inertiat
accusative	nom.	inertia	inertiat
	gen.	inertian
genitive		inertian	inertioiden inertioitten inertiainrare
partitive		inertiaa	inertioita
inessive		inertiassa	inertioissa
elative		inertiasta	inertioista
illative		inertiaan	inertioihin
adessive		inertialla	inertioilla
ablative		inertialta	inertioilta
allative		inertialle	inertioille
essive		inertiana	inertioina
translative		inertiaksi	inertioiksi
instructive		—	inertioin
abessive		inertiatta	inertioitta
comitative		—	inertioineen

Possessive forms of inertia (type kulkija)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	inertiani	inertiamme
2nd person	inertiasi	inertianne
3rd person	inertiansa

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *enartjā. Related to iners (“without skill; inactive”), from in- (“not”) + ars (“art, skill”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /iˈner.ti.a/, [ɪˈnɛrt̪iä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /iˈner.t͡si.a/, [iˈnɛrt̪͡s̪iä]

Noun

inertia f (genitive inertiae); first declension

1. want of art or skill, unskillfulness, ignorance

   Antonyms: calliditās, sapientia

2. (by extension) inactivity, idleness, laziness, indolence

   Synonyms: pigritia, sēgnitia, ignāvia, dēsidia, sōcordia, ōtium

   Antonyms: impigritās, alacritās, strēnuitās, āctīvitās

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	inertia	inertiae
Genitive	inertiae	inertiārum
Dative	inertiae	inertiīs
Accusative	inertiam	inertiās
Ablative	inertiā	inertiīs
Vocative	inertia	inertiae

Related terms

• iners
• inersitūdō
• inerticulus

Descendants

• Catalan: inèrcia
• English: inertia
• French: inertie
• Galician: inercia
• Italian: inerzia
• Occitan: inercia
• Portuguese: inércia
• Russian: ине́рция (inércija)
• Spanish: inercia

References

• “inertia”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• “inertia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inertia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• inertia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

inertia m (definite singular inertiaen, indefinite plural inertiaer, definite plural inertiaene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by inerti