transistor

See also: Transistor, transístor, and transistör

English

Four types of transistor.

Etymology

Blend of transfer +‎ resistor. Said to have been coined by American engineer John Robinson Pierce in 1947, who used transresistance as the basis for forming transistor.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɹænˈzɪs.tɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor (plural transistors)

2. (semiconductors) A solid-state semiconductor device, with three terminals, which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation, and many other functions.
   • 2017 October, “Snap Circuits Light”, in Snap Circuits‎^[1], Elenco, pages 9, 59:

     Switches and transistors control the flow of electricity like valves and faucets control water. Resistors limit the flow of electricity. […] Light is transmitted from the color LED, through the fiber optic cable, to control the NPN transistor (Q2) and red LED (D1).

3. (dated, informal, metonymic) A transistor radio.
   • 1978, Billy Joel, Half a Mile Away:

     Turn your transistor on and let the music play

Usage notes

Transistors, when referring to semiconductor components, may encompass field-effect transistors (FETs), unijunction transistors (UJTs), or bipolar junction transistors (BJTs); however, often the bipolar type is assumed.

Derived terms

• FET
• junction transistor
• pass transistor
• post-transistor
• silicon planar epitaxial transistor
• TFT
• thin-film transistor
• transistorize
• transistorized
• transistor radio
• UJT

Translations

solid-state semiconductor device, with three terminals

• Arabic: تْرَانْزِسْتُور m (tranzistur)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: transistor m
• Bulgarian: транзи́стор m (tranzístor)
• Catalan: transistor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 電晶體 / 电晶体 (din⁶ zing¹ tai²), 晶體管 / 晶体管 (zing¹ tai² gun²), 原子粒

  Mandarin: 晶體管 / 晶体管 (zh) (jīngtǐguǎn), (Taiwan) 電晶體 / 电晶体 (diànjīngtǐ)

• Czech: tranzistor (cs) m
• Danish: transistor c
• Dutch: transistor (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: transistor (et)
• Finnish: transistori (fi)
• French: transistor (fr) m
• Galician: transistor (gl) m
• Georgian: ტრანზისტორი (ṭranzisṭori)
• German: Transistor (de) m
• Greek: κρυσταλλοτρίοδος (el) f (krystallotríodos), τρανζίστορ (el) n (tranzístor)
• Hebrew: טרנזיסטור (he) m (tranzístor)
• Hungarian: tranzisztor (hu)
• Icelandic: smári (is) m
• Indonesian: transistor (id)
• Italian: transistor (it) m, transistore (it) m
• Japanese: トランジスタ (ja) (toranjisuta)
• Khmer: ត្រង់ស៊ីស្ទ័រ (trɑngsiistɔə)
• Korean: 트랜지스터 (ko) (teuraenjiseuteo)
• Latvian: transistors m
• Lithuanian: tranzistorius m
• Malay: transistor
• Māori: whitiārai
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: transistor m

  Nynorsk: transistor m

• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: tranzystor (pl) m
• Portuguese: transístor (pt) m
• Romanian: tranzistor (ro) n
• Russian: транзи́стор (ru) m (tranzístor)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: транзистор m

  Latin: tranzistor (sh) m

• Spanish: transistor (es) m
• Swedish: transistor (sv) c
• Tagalog: saligwil
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: transistör (tr)
• Vietnamese: bóng bán dẫn (vi)

small portable radio

• Asturian: transistor m
• Bulgarian: транзи́стор m (tranzístor)
• Catalan: transistor (ca) m
• Czech: tranzistor (cs) m, tranďák (cs) m
• Estonian: transistor (et)
• Galician: transistor (gl) m
• Hebrew: טרנזיסטור (he) m (tranzístor)
• Italian: radiolina (it) f, transistor (it) m
• Lithuanian: tranzistorius m
• Polish: tranzystor (pl) m
• Portuguese: transístor (pt) m
• Romanian: tranzistor (ro) n
• Russian: транзи́стор (ru) m (tranzístor), радиоприёмник (ru) m (radioprijómnik), приёмник (ru) m (prijómnik)
• Spanish: transistor (es) m
• Swedish: transistor (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} transistoro (io)

Further reading

• transistor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾansisˈtoɾ/ [t̪ɾãn.sis̪ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [tɾən.zisˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [tɾan.zisˈtoɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

transistor m (plural transistors)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “transistor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “transistor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “transistor”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʁɑnˈsisdʌ]

Noun

transistor c (singular definite transistoren, plural indefinite transistorer)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

Inflection

Declension of transistor

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	transistor	transistoren	transistorer	transistorerne
genitive	transistors	transistorens	transistorers	transistorernes

Further reading

• “transistor” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trɑnˈzɪstɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor m (plural transistoren or transistors, diminutive transistortje n)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

Further reading

• “transistor” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]
• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “transistor”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001
• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “transistor”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁɑ̃.zis.tɔʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

transistor m (plural transistors)

1. (semiconductors) transistor
2. (metonymic) transistor radio
   • 1982, “Un été sans toi”, performed by Charles Aznavour:

     Sur mon matelas / Je rêve à ton corps / Soûlé par la voix / De mon transistor

     On my mattress / I dream of your body / Reeling from the voice / On my transistor

Further reading

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

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾansisˈtoɾ/ [t̪ɾan.s̺is̺ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism, borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /tranˈsistor/ [t̪ranˈsis.t̪ɔr]
• Rhymes: -istor
• Syllabification: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor (plural transistor-transistor)

1. (electronics) transistor

Derived terms

• transistor darlington
• transistor dwikutub
• transistor ekakutub
• transistor horisontal
• transistor horizontal
• transistor mosfet
• transistor penguat

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tranˈsis.tor/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -istor
• Hyphenation: tran‧sì‧stor

Noun

transistor m (invariable)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

Derived terms

• fototransistor

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Noun

transistor m (definite singular transistoren, indefinite plural transistorer, definite plural transistorene)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

Further reading

• “transistor” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Noun

transistor m (definite singular transistoren, indefinite plural transistorar, definite plural transistorane)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

Further reading

• “transistor” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.zisˈtoʁ/ [tɾɐ̃.zisˈtoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.zisˈtoʁ/ [tɾɐ̃.zisˈtoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.zisˈtoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.ziʃˈtoʁ/ [tɾɐ̃.ziʃˈtoχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.zisˈtoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.ziʃˈtoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.ziʃˈtoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɐ̃.ziʃˈto.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (Brazil) alternative form of transístor

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “transistor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Noun

transistor n (plural transistoare)

1. alternative form of tranzistor

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	transistor	transistorul	transistoare	transistoarele
genitive-dative	transistor	transistorului	transistoare	transistoarelor
vocative	transistorule		transistoarelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾansisˈtoɾ/ [t̪ɾãn.sisˈt̪oɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: tran‧sis‧tor

Noun

transistor m (plural transistores)

1. (semiconductors) transistor (semiconductor device)
2. (metonymic) transistor radio

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English transistor.

Noun

transistor c

1. (electronics) a transistor (semiconductor component)
2. (metonymic, dated) a transistor, a transistor radio

   Synonym: transistorradio

Declension

Declension of transistor

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	transistor	transistors
	definite	transistorn	transistorns
plural	indefinite	transistorer	transistorers
	definite	transistorerna	transistorernas

Further reading

• “transistor”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)