Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Early 20th century ·1948
Transistor
transfer resistor
- Meaning
- A semiconductor device that amplifies or switches electrical signals.
- Source words
- transfer + resistor
- Coined by
- John Pierce (Bell Labs)
- Year
- 1948
Background
A Bell Labs vote between "transistor," "crystal triode," and three other proposals. Pierce's coinage won. The transistor itself was invented by Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley the year before.
Early 20th century
Industrialisation generated new things that needed new names, fast. Motoring, electricity, telecommunications, and urban pollution all produced portmanteaus within a generation of their arrival.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.