volatile

English

Etymology

From Middle French volatile, from Latin volātilis (“flying; swift; temporary; volatile”), from volō (“I fly”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvɑl.ə.tl̩/, /ˈvɑl.əˌtaɪ.əl/, [ˈvɑ.lə.ɾɫ̩]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɒl.əˌtaɪ.(ə)l/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

volatile (comparative more volatile, superlative most volatile)

2. (physics) Evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions.
3. (of a substance, informal) Explosive.
4. (of a price etc) Variable or erratic.
5. (of a person) Quick to become angry or violent.

   a volatile man

6. Fickle.
7. Temporary or ephemeral.
8. (of a situation) Potentially violent.
9. (computing, of a variable) Having its associated memory immediately updated with any changes in value.
10. (computing, of memory) Whose content is lost when the computer is powered down
11. (obsolete) Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ephemeral

Derived terms

• volatilely
• volatility
• volatile memory

Translations

evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions

• Afrikaans: vlugtig
• Bulgarian: летлив (bg) (letliv)
• Catalan: volàtil
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 易揮發的, 易挥发的

• Czech: prchavý m, těkavý
• Dutch: vluchtig (nl), licht ontvlambaar
• Finnish: haihtuva (fi)
• French: volatil (fr)
• Georgian: აქროლადი (akroladi)
• German: volatil (de), flüchtig (de), verdunstend (de)
• Greek: πτητικός (el) m (ptitikós)
• Hebrew: נדיף‎ (he) m (nadif)
• Hungarian: illékony (hu), illó
• Irish: luaineach
• Italian: volatile (it)
• Japanese: 揮発性 (きはつせい, kihatsusei)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can

• Korean: 휘발성의 (hwibalseong'ui)
• Malay: meruap
• Manx: so-ghaalagh
• Maori: tākohukohu
• Norwegian: flyktig
• Ossetian: сысгӕ (sysgæ)
• Polish: lotny (pl)
• Portuguese: volátil (pt)
• Romanian: volatil (ro) m
• Russian: лету́чий (ru) (letúčij)
• Slovak: prchavý m
• Spanish: volátil (es)
• Swedish: flyktig (sv)
• Thai: ลบเลือนได้ (lópleuandâi)
• Turkish: uçucu (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: hydarth, anweddol

(informal) explosive

• Finnish: räjähdysherkkä
• Georgian: ფეთქებადი (petkebadi), ასაფეთქებელი (asapetkebeli)
• Greek: εκρηκτικός (el) m (ekriktikós)

• Italian: volatile (it)
• Japanese: 発破 (ja) (happa), (formal) 爆弾 (ja) (bakudan)

(of a price etc) variable or erratic

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 動蕩不定的, 动荡不定的

• Czech: nestálý
• Finnish: vaihteleva (fi), volatiili
• French: volatil (fr)
• Georgian: ცვალებადი (cvalebadi), არამდგრადი (aramdgradi), არასტაბილური (arasṭabiluri)

• German: schwankend (de), unbeständig (de), unstet (de)
• Greek: ευμετάβλητος (el) m (evmetávlitos), ρευστός (el) m (refstós)
• Hungarian: ingadozó
• Italian: instabile (it), incostante (it), variabile (it)
• Polish: niestabilny (pl), zmienny (pl)
• Portuguese: instável (pt)
• Russian: изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj)
• Swedish: volatil

fickle

• Bulgarian: непостоя́нен (bg) (nepostojánen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 易變的, 易变的

• Czech: nestálý, přelétavý
• Finnish: häilyväinen

• Georgian: ფიცხი (picxi), ფხუკიანი (pxuḳiani), მერყევი (merq̇evi)
• German: unbeständig (de)
• Greek: ευμετάβλητος (el) m (evmetávlitos), επιπόλαιος (el) m (epipólaios), άστατος (el) m (ástatos)
• Italian: volubile (it)
• Russian: непостоя́нный (ru) (nepostojánnyj), изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj)

quick to become angry

• Czech: náladový, prchlivý, vztahovačný (cs)
• Finnish: räjähdysherkkä
• Georgian: ფიცხი (picxi)

• German: aufbrausend (de), labil (de)
• Italian: suscettibile (it)
• Maori: pūkākā, kirikawa

temporary or ephemeral

• Bulgarian: временен (bg) (vremenen), краткотраен (bg) (kratkotraen)
• Czech: prchavý
• Dutch: tijdelijk (nl)
• Finnish: häilyväinen, lyhytkestoinen (fi)
• Georgian: დროებითი (droebiti), წარმავალი (c̣armavali)
• German: flüchtig (de)

• Greek: προσωρινός (el) m (prosorinós), εφήμερος (el) m (efímeros)
• Italian: temporaneo (it), effimero (it)
• Polish: ulotny (pl) m, nieuchwytny (pl) m
• Romanian: efemer (ro) m
• Russian: лету́чий (ru) (letúčij)

(of a situation) potentially violent

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 易怒的

• Czech: výbušný
• Finnish: epävakaa (fi)
• Georgian: მერყევი (merq̇evi), საშიში (sašiši)

• German: brisant (de)
• Greek: εκρηκτικός (el) m (ekriktikós)
• Italian: instabile (it)
• Japanese: 一触即発 (ja) (isshokusokuhatsu)
• Polish: napięty (pl)

(computing, of memory) whose content is lost when the computer is powered down

• Finnish: haihtuva (fi)
• French: volatil (fr)
• German: volatil (de)

• Greek: πτητική (el) (ptitikí) (μνήμη (el) (mními))
• Italian: volatile (it)
• Polish: ulotny (pl)
• Russian: энергозависимый (ru) (energozavisimyj)

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

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} ekflama
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} mudah menguap, ^{(please verify)} mudah berubah, ^{(please verify)} rentan (id)

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} volátil (es), ^{(please verify)} inestible

Noun

volatile (plural volatiles)

1. A chemical or compound that changes into a gas easily.
2. (programming) A variable that is volatile, i.e. has its associated memory immediately updated with any change in value.
   • 2011, Victor Pankratius, ‎Ali-Reza Adl-Tabatabai, ‎Walter Tichy, Fundamentals of Multicore Software Development (page 74)

     Operations on C++ volatiles do put the compiler on notice that the object may be modified asynchronously, and hence are generally safer to use than ordinary variable accesses.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔ.la.til/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

volatile

1. feminine singular of volatil
2. Alternative spelling of volatil, as a masculine singular

Noun

volatile m (plural volatiles)

1. fowl, bird

Further reading

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

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

volatile

1. inflection of volatil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin volātilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /voˈla.ti.le/
• Rhymes: -atile
• Hyphenation: vo‧là‧ti‧le

Adjective

volatile (plural volatili)

1. (chemistry, physics) volatile
2. flying

   Synonym: volante

Noun

volatile m (plural volatili)

1. bird, fowl

   Synonym: uccello

Further reading

• volatile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /u̯oˈlaː.ti.le/, [u̯ɔˈɫ̪äːt̪ɪɫ̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /voˈla.ti.le/, [voˈläːt̪ile]

Adjective

volātile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of volātilis

References

• volatile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)