transparency

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin trānspārentia.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɹænsˈpɛɹənsi/, /tɹænz-/, /-ˈpæɹənsi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɹænsˈpæɹənsi/, /tɹænzˈpæɹənsi/

Noun

transparency (countable and uncountable, plural transparencies)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being transparent; transparence.
2. (uncountable) Openness; accessibility to scrutiny.
3. (countable, art) A transparent artwork, viewable by shining light through it.
   • 1810, Royal Collection Trust, Design for a transparency of George III:

     According to Bray (Life of Stothard, p. 50), the silversmiths Rundell and Bridge displayed a large transparency by Thomas Stothard, painted in thin oils on canvas and lit from behind, in front of their house on Ludgate Hill in honour of the King's Jubilee in 1810.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 59:

     It soon came: as they were on their way to a transparency of their majesties, not a little larger than life—with Bellona, in a very handsome helmet, on one side, and Peace, with a cornucopia and a full blown wreath of roses, on the other—the path was interrupted by a little knot of gentlemen.

4. (countable, photography) A translucent film-like material with an image imprinted on it, viewable by shining light through it.
5. (countable) A transparent object.
6. (signal processing) Sufficient accuracy to make the compressed result perceptually indistinguishable from the uncompressed input.

Derived terms

• overhead transparency

Translations

quality of being transparent; transparence

• Arabic: شَفَّافِيَّة‎ f (šaffāfiyya)
• Armenian: թափանցիկություն (hy) (tʿapʿancʿikutʿyun)
• Belarusian: празры́стасць f (prazrýstascʹ)
• Bulgarian: прозрачност (bg) f (prozračnost)
• Catalan: transparència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 透明度 (zh) (tòumíngdù), 透明性 (zh) (tòumíngxìng)

• Czech: průhlednost f
• Danish: gennemsigtighed c, transparens c
• Dutch: doorzichtigheid (nl) f, transparantie (nl) f
• Finnish: läpinäkyvyys (fi); avoimuus (fi) (chiefly figuratively)
• French: transparence (fr) f
• Galician: transparencia f
• German: Durchsichtigkeit (de) f, Transparenz (de) f
• Greek: διαφάνεια (el) f (diafáneia)
• Hebrew: שְׁקִיפוּת‎ f (sh'kifút)
• Hungarian: átláthatóság (hu)
• Indonesian: transparansi (id)
• Italian: trasparenza (it) f
• Japanese: 透明性 (とうめいせい, tōmeisei)
• Malay: ketelusan, kelutsinaran
• Maori: pūataata
• Norman: transpathenche f
• Polish: przezroczystość (pl) f, przejrzystość (pl) f
• Portuguese: transparência (pt) f
• Romanian: transparență (ro) f
• Russian: прозра́чность (ru) f (prozráčnostʹ), транспаре́нтность (ru) f (transparéntnostʹ)
• Spanish: transparencia (es) f
• Swedish: transparens (sv) c, genomskinlighet (sv) c
• Tagalog: aninag
• Turkish: şeffaflık (tr)
• Ukrainian: прозо́рість f (prozóristʹ)

transparent object

• Bulgarian: плака (bg) f (plaka)
• Catalan: transparència (ca) f
• Finnish: läpinäkyvä (fi), läpikuultava (fi)
• French: transparence (fr) f
• Japanese: 透明性 (とうめいせい, tōmeisei)
• Norman: transpathenche f
• Portuguese: transparência (pt) f
• Spanish: transparencia (es) f