junction

See also: Junction

English

Etymology

From Latin iūnctiō (“union, joining, uniting”), from iungō (“join, attach together”). Equivalent to join +‎ -tion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒʌŋkʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkʃən

Noun

junction (plural junctions)

1. The act of joining, or the state of being joined.
2. A place where two things meet, especially where two roads meet.
3. The boundary between two physically different materials, especially between conductors, semiconductors, or metals.
4. (nautical) The place where a distributary departs from the main stream.
5. (rail transport) A place where two or more railways or railroads meet.
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 66:

     In the mid-1930s, when Stalin was looking to make a statement with his new Metro, he consulted Underground engineers, who offered advice to the Russian Minister in charge of the Metro project, Nikita Khrushchev. He was severely told: 'Don't have a Circle Line - too many flat junctions.' Moscow did build a circle line, but with flying junctions, by which one track goes over another.

6. (radio, television) A point in time between two unrelated consecutive broadcasts.
   • 2007, Gary Hudson, Sarah Rowlands, The Broadcast Journalism Handbook (page 336)

     Even rolling news has junctions to meet - headlines on the hour or half-hour, or links to live events, for example.

   • 2010, Peter Stewart, Essential Radio Skills: How to Present a Radio Show:

     Try to avoid becoming too predictable or repetitive, particularly at regular junctions.

7. (computing, Microsoft Windows) A kind of symbolic link to a directory.
8. (programming) In the Raku programming language, a construct representing a composite of several values connected by an operator.

Synonyms

• (place where two things meet): intersection

Derived terms

• Battersby Junction
• burrowing junction
• Carstairs Junction
• Clapham Junction
• depletion junction
• flat junction
• flying junction
• Grand Junction
• Holliday junction
• Horbury Junction
• junctional
• junction box
• junction canal
• Junction City
• junction detector
• junction diode
• junction gate
• junction nevus
• junction point
• junction table
• junction transistor
• Langwith Junction
• Limerick Junction
• Llandudno Junction
• Lostock Junction
• Middleton Junction
• Monmouth Junction
• p-n junction
• Princeton Junction
• Rainford Junction
• Seaton Junction
• Severn Tunnel Junction
• T-junction
• Verney Junction

 

Descendants

• → Bengali: জংশন (jôṅśôn)
• → Japanese: ジャンクション

Translations

the act of joining

• Bulgarian: съединяване (bg) n (sǎedinjavane), свързване (bg) n (svǎrzvane)
• Danish: samling (da) c, kobling c, sammenkobling c
• Dutch: samenkomst (nl) f, samenvloeiing (nl) f, aansluiting (nl) f
• Finnish: liitos (fi)
• French: jonction (fr) f
• Friulian: zontadure f
• Georgian: შეერთება (šeerteba), გაერთიანება (gaertianeba)
• German: Kreuzung (de) f
• Greek: ένωση (el) f (énosi)

  Ancient: ἁρμογή f (harmogḗ)

• Italian: giunzione (it), giunto (it) m, raccordo (it) m, innesto (it) m
• Japanese: 接合 (ja) (setsugō)
• Latin: iūnctiō f
• Portuguese: junção (pt) f
• Romanian: joncțiune (ro)
• Russian: соедине́ние (ru) n (sojedinénije), объедине́ние (ru) n (obʺjedinénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спо̑ј m

  Roman: spȏj (sh) m

• Spanish: unión (es)
• Swahili: makutano (sw)

a place where two things meet

• Armenian: հանգույց (hy) (hanguycʿ)
• Azerbaijani: qovşaq
• Bulgarian: съединение (bg) n (sǎedinenie)
• Czech: křižovatka (cs) f
• Danish: knudepunkt n
• Dutch: knooppunt (nl) n verbindingspunt (nl) n, aansluiting (nl) f, samenkomst (nl) f
• Finnish: liitoskohta
• French: jonction (fr) f
• Georgian: შესართავი (šesartavi), შეერთების წერტილი (šeertebis c̣erṭili)
• German: Kreuzung (de) f, Knotenpunkt (de) m
• Hebrew: צומת‎ (he) m (tsomet)
• Hungarian: kereszteződés (hu)
• Irish: acomhal m

• Italian: incrocio (it) m, giunto (it) m, giunzione (it) f
• Japanese: 合流点 (gōryūten), ジャンクション (jankushon)
• Latin: ambivium n
• Maori: pūruatanga, pūtahitanga, tūtakitanga, komititanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: knutepunkt n

  Nynorsk: knutepunkt n

• Portuguese: junção (pt) f, junta (pt) f
• Russian: соедине́ние (ru) n (sojedinénije), перекрёсток (ru) n (perekrjóstok)
• Spanish: juntura (es) f
• Swedish: knutpunkt (sv), vägkors
• Tocharian B: meske
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

the boundary between two materials

• Dutch: las (nl) f, voeg (nl) f, naad (nl) f
• German: Grenzzone f

• Japanese: 接点 (ja) (setten), for semiconductors 接合 (ja) (setsugō)
• Russian: соедине́ние (ru) n (sojedinénije)

See also

• crossroad
• intersection

Verb

junction (third-person singular simple present junctions, present participle junctioning, simple past and past participle junctioned)

1. (of roads or tracks) To form a junction.