Etymologically
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transistor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 03:05. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /tɹænˈzɪs.tɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is most often explained as a blend, from English transfer + resistor,[2][3][4][5][6][7] because the device transfers an electrical signal across a resistor.[2][5][6][8] The OED also allows a second explanation, from the trans- of transconductance and the combining form -istor, after the earlier varistor,[2] and the Oxford Dictionary of English gives only that one.[9] Etymonline says the name is said to have been coined by the American engineer John Robinson Pierce at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where the device was invented in 1947,[8] and Klein calls it a trade name coined by Bell Laboratories in 1948.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small semiconductor device used as a switch or amplifier: 1948, in the New York Times.[2][6][8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the transistor took over many of the functions of the vacuum tube.[8] The verb transistorize, to equip with transistors, followed in 1953.[6] Barnhart records the transistor radio from 1955 and Etymonline from 1958;[6][8] from 1961 transistor alone was short for such a radio.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 1948 – a semiconductor device acting as an amplifier or switch.[2][6][8]
  • 1953 – the verb transistorize.[6]
  • 1955 – transistor radio.[6] Etymonline finds it by 1958.[8]
  • 1961 – a transistor radio.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A semiconductor device, usually with three terminals, that controls the flow of current between two of them by a small current or voltage at the third, and is used to amplify or switch signals.[11][2][5]
  2. (informal) A transistor radio.[11][2]

Word family

  • phototransistor
  • transistorize
  • transistorized
  • transistor radio

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins