transient

English

Etymology

From Late Latin transiēnt- (for classical transeunt-), stem of transiēns, present participle of transire (“to go over, to pass”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹan.zi.ənt/, /ˈtɹɑːn.zi.ənt/, /-si.ənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹæn.ʃənt/, /ˈtɹæn.si.ənt/, /ˈtɹæn.zi.ənt/

Adjective

transient (comparative more transient, superlative most transient)

1. Passing or disappearing with time; transitory.

   a transient pleasure

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     this transient world

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XVI, page 26:

     Or doth she only seem to take
     ⁠The touch of change in calm or storm;
     ⁠But knows no more of transient form
     In her deep self, than some dead lake
     That holds the shadow of a lark
     ⁠Hung in the shadow of a heaven?

2. Remaining for only a brief time.

   a transient view of a landscape

   a transient disease

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 27:

     Taking advantage of the surprise, which assured him at least transient attention, he continued, addressing himself particularly to Evelyn.

   • 1980 August 9, Robin Bechhofer, Emmy Goldknopf, “Class Reunion”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

     Traditionally, alumnae have more impact than students, whom the administration views as transient.

3. (physics) Decaying with time, especially exponentially.
4. (mathematics, stochastic processes, of a state) having a positive probability of being left and never being visited again.
5. Occasional; isolated; one-off
6. Passing through; passing from one person to another.
7. (music) Intermediate.
8. (philosophy) Operating beyond itself; having an external effect.

Synonyms

• (passing): passing, transitory, temporary
• (brief): brief, ephemeral, fleeting, flighty, fugacious

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “passing”): permanent
• (antonym(s) of “brief”): permanent, chronic, inveterate
• (antonym(s) of “mathematics”): recurrent
• (antonym(s) of “philosophy”): immanent

Derived terms

• transience
• transient ischaemic attack
• transient ischemic attack
• transient luminous event
• transiently
• transientness

 

Translations

passing or disappearing with time; transitory

• Arabic: مُؤَقَّت (muʔaqqat), سَريع الزوال, اِبْنُ ساعَتِهِ (ibnu sāʕatihi), زَمَنِيّ (zamaniyy)
• Bulgarian: преходен (bg) (prehoden)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 短暫的／短暂的 (zh) (duǎnzàn de)

• Danish: overgående
• Dutch: vergankelijk (nl), eindig (nl), transitorisch (nl)
• Finnish: ohimenevä (fi), katoava (fi), katoavainen (fi), häipyvä (fi)
• French: passager (fr), provisoire (fr), transitoire (fr), temporaire (fr)
• Galician: transitorio
• Georgian: წარმავალი (c̣armavali), გადამავალი (gadamavali), დროებითი (droebiti)
• German: vergänglich (de), vorübergehend (de), temporär (de), instationär, Übergangs- (prefix), unbeständig (de), Ausgleichs- (prefix), abklingend (de), transient (de)
• Greek: παροδικός (el) (parodikós), πρόσκαιρος (el) m (próskairos)
• Irish: díomuan, duthain
• Italian: transitorio (it) m
• Japanese: 儚い (ja) (はかない, hakanai)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: transitorisk

  Nynorsk: transitorisk

• Occitan: transitòri (oc)
• Portuguese: transitório (pt)
• Romanian: trecător (ro), efemer (ro), tranzient (ro), tranzitoriu (ro), vremelnic (ro)
• Russian: преходя́щий (ru) (prexodjáščij), мимолётный (ru) (mimoljótnyj), недолгове́чный (ru) (nedolgovéčnyj), скороте́чный (ru) (skorotéčnyj), кратковре́менный (ru) (kratkovrémennyj), транзито́рный (ru) (tranzitórnyj)
• Spanish: transitorio (es)
• Swedish: övergående (sv), förgänglig (sv), flyktig (sv)

remaining for only a brief time

• Bulgarian: краткотраен (bg) (kratkotraen), мимолетен (bg) (mimoleten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瞬間／瞬间 (zh) (shùnjiān)

• Danish: midlertidig (da)
• Dutch: kortstondig (nl)
• Finnish: lyhytaikainen (fi), hetkellinen (fi)
• French: bref (fr), éphémère (fr), fugace (fr)
• Georgian: დროებითი (droebiti), ხანმოკლე (xanmoḳle), დრომოკლე (dromoḳle), წუთიერი (c̣utieri), წამიერი (c̣amieri)
• German: kurzzeitig (de), flüchtig (de), kurzlebig (de), passager (de)
• Greek: παροδικός (el) (parodikós), εφήμερος (el) m (efímeros), φευγαλέος (el) m (fevgaléos)
• Indonesian: transien
• Irish: díomuan, duthain
• Japanese: 瞬間的 (ja) (shunkanteki), 一時的 (ja) (ichijiteki), 一過性 (ja) (ikkasei)
• Maori: rangitahi, tūao
• Occitan: fugidís (oc)
• Romanian: trecător (ro)
• Russian: временный (ru) (vremennyj)
• Swedish: kortvarig (sv), flyktig (sv)
• Turkish: geçici (tr)

Decaying with time, especially exponentially

• Danish: flyktig
• German: kurzlebig (de), flüchtig (de), zerfallend (de)
• Greek: εφήμερος (el) m (efímeros)
• Japanese: 過渡 (ja) (kato)

mathematics: having positive probability of being left

• German: transient (de)
• Hebrew: חולף (choléf)

occasional; isolated; one-off; individual

• Danish: engangs-
• German: gelegentlich (de), isoliert (de), einmalig (de), Augenblicks- (prefix)
• Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj), отде́льный (ru) (otdélʹnyj)

passing through; passing from one person to another

• Bulgarian: преходен (bg) (prehoden)
• German: Durchgangs- (prefix), durchlaufend (de), Ausgleichs- (prefix), mobil (de)
• Japanese: 過渡 (ja) (kato)

operating beyond itself; having an external effect

• Greek: ενυπάρχων m (enypárchon)
• Japanese: 精神の外部

Noun

transient (plural transients)

1. Something that is transient.
2. (physics) A transient phenomenon, especially an electric current; a very brief surge.
3. (acoustics) A relatively loud, non-repeating signal in an audio waveform that occurs very quickly, such as the attack of a snare drum.
4. A person who passes through a place for a short time; a traveller; a migrant worker.
   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 3:

     Then, within the space of a few months, there were more transients than there were locals, and the imbalance seemed morally wrong.

5. A homeless person.
6. (programming) A module that generally remains in memory only for a short time.
   • 1978, Computerworld, volume 12, number 25, page 26:

     The overhead in loading transients is a big time-waster.

   • 1990, Gary A. Stotts, DOS/VSE: Introduction to the Operating System, page 102:

     These areas function to single thread supervisor routines that are loaded as needed. The Logical Transient Area (LTA) processes $$B transients.

   • 2020, Brad Williams, Justin Tadlock, John James Jacoby, Professional WordPress Plugin Development, page 102:

     Like with setting and getting transients, WordPress packages a delete_transient() function for deleting a transient from the database.

7. (Philippines) A homestay. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• (traveller): itinerant, migrant, traveller
• (homeless person): homeless

Derived terms

• astronomical transient
• fast blue optical transient
• fast-evolving luminous transient

 

Translations

something transient

• Bulgarian: преход (bg) m (prehod)
• Danish: overgang c
• German: Übergang (de) m
• Japanese: 一時的なもの (ichijitekina mono)

physics

• Bulgarian: транзиента f (tranzienta)
• German: Transiente f
• Italian: transiente (it)
• Japanese: 過渡現象 (kato genshō)

acoustics

• German: Einschwingungsvorgang m

traveller

• Bulgarian: приходящ гост m (prihodjašt gost)
• Burmese: ပျံကျ (my) (pyamkya.)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過客／过客 (zh) (guòkè), 流動人口／流动人口 (zh) (liúdòng rénkǒu)

• French: itinérant (fr)
• German: Reisende (de) f, Reisender (de) m, Durchreisende (de) f, Durchreisender (de) m
• Greek: περιοδεύων (el) m (periodévon)
• Hungarian: átutazó (hu)
• Japanese: 渡り労働者 (watari rōdōsha)
• Spanish: trotamundo, transeúnte (es)

homeless

• Finnish: koditon (fi)
• French: clochard (fr), clodo (fr), sans-abri (fr), SDF (fr)
• German: Obdachlose (de) f, Obdachloser (de) m
• Japanese: ホームレス (ja) (hōmuresu)

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