English Explanatory Dictionary

tangent

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A straight line touching a curve at a single point without crossing it there.
  2. A function of an angle that gives the ratio of the sine to the cosine, in either the real or complex numbers. Symbols: tan, tg.
  3. A topic nearly unrelated to the main topic, but having a point in common with it.
  4. A visual interaction between two or more lines or edges that creates a perceived relationship between them, often in a way that the artist did not intend.
  5. A small metal blade in a clavichord that strikes the strings to produce sound.
adj
  1. Touching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that point.
  2. Of a topic, only loosely related to a main topic.
  3. Straight; not horizontally curved.

Pronunciation

tăn'jənt /ˈtæn.d͡ʒənt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tangent.wav

Word forms

tangent tangents

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- Proto-Italic *tangō Latin tangō Latin tangēns Latin tangentembor. English tangent Borrowed from Latin tangentem, the accusative of tangēns (“touching”) (in the phrase līnea tangēns (“a touching line”)), the present participle of the verb tangō (“touch”, verb), from Proto-Italic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”). Cognate with Old English þaccian (“to touch lightly, pat, stroke”). More at thack, thwack.

Synonyms

tangent line tangential

Related words

tangential cosine non sequitur sine trigonometry

Derived words

antitangent arctangent bitangent cotangent fly off at a tangent go off at a tangent go off on a tangent hyperbolic tangent inflectional tangent inverse tangent semitangent subtangent tangental tangent bundle tangentoid tangent plane tangent space tritangent tangently

Translations

Afrikaans: tangens Afrikaans: tangense Afrikaans: raaklyn Afrikaans: raaklyne Arabic: ظِلّ الزَّاوِيَة Armenian: տանգենս Asturian: tanxente Azerbaijani: tangens Belarusian: та́нгенс Bulgarian: та́нгенс Burmese: တန်းဂျင့် Catalan: tangent Cebuano: liras Chinese Mandarin: 正切 Czech: tangens Danish: tangens Dutch: tangens Esperanto: tangento Finnish: tangentti French: tangente Galician: tanxente German: Tangens Greek: εφαπτομένη Hebrew: טנגנס Hungarian: tangens Icelandic: tangens Italian: tangente Japanese: タンジェント Japanese: 正接 Khmer: តង់សង់ Korean: 탄젠트 Macedonian: тангенс Manx: tanjent Māori: pātapa Norwegian Bokmål: tangens Norwegian Nynorsk: tangens Persian: تانژانت Persian: ظل Polish: tangens Portuguese: tangente Romanian: tangentă Russian: та́нгенс Spanish: tangente Swedish: tangens Tagalog: tanway
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