transparent

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /trænˈspær.ənt/, US /trænˈsper.ənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French transparent, and directly from Medieval Latin transpārēns, showing light through,^[2][3][4] present participle of transpārēre,^[2][3][5] from Latin trāns-, through, and pārēre, to come in sight, appear (see appear).^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Allowing light through so that what is behind can be seen: 1413 in the OED, early 15th century in Etymonline,^[6][3] probably before 1425 in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses followed in the 1590s: frank and open (1590), and easily seen through or understood (1592).^[6][4] Wider physical uses, letting heat or other radiation through, are from 1871.^[6] In linguistics a transparent word or structure, whose meaning can be worked out from its parts, is from 1974.^[6] Transparency is from the 16th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1413 – letting light through.^[6]
• 1590 – frank, open.^[6]
• 1592 – easily seen through.^[6]
• 1871 – pervious to heat or radiation.^[6]
• 1974 – of meaning or structure, obvious.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Allowing light through, so that objects behind can be seen clearly.
2. Allowing radiation of a given kind through: transparent to X-rays.
3. Easy to see through, understand or detect; obvious.
4. Frank and open; candid.

Word family

• transparently
• transparentness
• radiotransparent
• subtransparent
• transparentize
• untransparent
• semitransparent

Related words

• transparency
• appear
• apparent

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press