tracer

See also: Tracer and tračer

English

Etymology

trace +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹeɪsə(ɹ)/, [ˈtʃɹeɪsə(ɹ)]
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹeɪsɚ/, [ˈtʃɹeɪsɚ]
• Rhymes: -eɪsə(r)

Noun

tracer (plural tracers)

1. (chemistry) A compound, element, or isotope used to track the progress or history of a natural process.
2. A round of ammunition for a firearm that contains magnesium or another flammable substance arranged such that it will burn and produce a visible trail when fired in the dark.

   Synonyms: tracer ammunition, tracer bullet

3. The act or state of tracking or investigating something.
   • 1964, Galaxy Magazine (volume 23, issues 1-6, page 125)

     We have a five-man tracer on him now. He's heading for a Vorster cell on Michigan Boulevard, and he's drunk as a lord. Should we intercept him?

   • 2011, Joint Commission Resources, Environment of Care Tracer Workbook, →ISBN, page 5:

     A surveyor typically conducts a tracer on his or her own and later meets up with the rest of the team to discuss findings.

   • 2017, “From the Sewers”, CardCaptorXP (lyrics)‎^[1]:

     Ain't never running but I'm a paper chasing
     They gon catch up to me, they gon need a pacer
     How they over-watching me without a tracer

4. A request to trace the movements of a person or an object, such as a shipment.
   • 2010, Claire Gilbert, A Runway for a Dream:

     The next morning when she awoke, she told Darcy what had happened, and Darcy agreed that she should go to the police and this time ask them if they could put a tracer on her incoming phone calls, just in case he called again.

5. A person who traces something.
6. A device or instrument used to assist in making tracings.

Derived terms

• bead tracer
• dye tracer
• filtrate tracer
• flow tracer
• gas tracer
• intrinsic tracer
• packet tracer
• ray tracer
• signal tracer
• skip tracer
• tracer ammunition
• tracer bullet
• tracer element
• tracer log
• tracer round
• tracer shell

Translations

A chemical used to track the progress or history of a natural process

• Finnish: markkeri, merkkiaine
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: marqueur (fr) m

A piece of ammunition for a firearm that contains magnesium or another flammable substance

• Dutch: tracer (nl), lichtspoormunitie
• Finnish: valojuova-ammus, valojuovaluoti
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Leuchtspurmunition (de)
• Hungarian: fényjelző lőszer
• Korean: 예광탄 (ko) (yegwangtan)

The act of tracking or investigating something

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

A person who traces something

• Irish: rianaí m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• Carter, Crater, arrect, carter, crater

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French

Etymology

From Old French tracier, from Vulgar Latin *tractiō, from Latin tractum the past participle of trahō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁa.se/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

tracer

1. (transitive) to draw or plot (a diagram), to trace out
2. (transitive) to rule (a line)
3. (informal) to buck up, hurry up

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of tracer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tracer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	traçant /tʁa.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tracé /tʁa.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	trace /tʁas/	traces /tʁas/	trace /tʁas/	traçons /tʁa.sɔ̃/	tracez /tʁa.se/	tracent /tʁas/
	imperfect	traçais /tʁa.sɛ/	traçais /tʁa.sɛ/	traçait /tʁa.sɛ/	tracions /tʁa.sjɔ̃/	traciez /tʁa.sje/	traçaient /tʁa.sɛ/
	past historic2	traçai /tʁa.se/	traças /tʁa.sa/	traça /tʁa.sa/	traçâmes /tʁa.sam/	traçâtes /tʁa.sat/	tracèrent /tʁa.sɛʁ/
	future	tracerai /tʁa.sʁe/	traceras /tʁa.sʁa/	tracera /tʁa.sʁa/	tracerons /tʁa.sʁɔ̃/	tracerez /tʁa.sʁe/	traceront /tʁa.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tracerais /tʁa.sʁɛ/	tracerais /tʁa.sʁɛ/	tracerait /tʁa.sʁɛ/	tracerions /tʁa.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	traceriez /tʁa.sə.ʁje/	traceraient /tʁa.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	trace /tʁas/	traces /tʁas/	trace /tʁas/	tracions /tʁa.sjɔ̃/	traciez /tʁa.sje/	tracent /tʁas/
	imperfect2	traçasse /tʁa.sas/	traçasses /tʁa.sas/	traçât /tʁa.sa/	traçassions /tʁa.sa.sjɔ̃/	traçassiez /tʁa.sa.sje/	traçassent /tʁa.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	trace /tʁas/	—	traçons /tʁa.sɔ̃/	tracez /tʁa.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Descendants

• German: trassieren

Further reading

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