diffusion

diffusion

See also: Diffusion

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin diffūsiō, from diffundō; can be decomposed as diffuse +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfjuːʒən/

• Audio (southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːʒən

Noun

diffusion (countable and uncountable, plural diffusions)

1. The act of diffusing or dispersing something, or the property of being diffused or dispersed; dispersion.
2. (physics) The scattering of light by reflection from a rough surface, or by passage through a translucent medium.
3. (physics) The intermingling of the molecules of a fluid due to random thermal agitation.

   gaseous diffusion

4. The spread of cultural or linguistic practices, or social institutions, in one or more communities.
5. (marketing) The gradual spread and adoption of goods or services.
6. (physics, weather) Exchange of airborne media between regions in space in an apparently random motion of a small scale.
7. The movement of water vapor from regions of high concentration (high water vapor pressure) toward regions of lower concentration.

Derived terms

• cultural diffusion
• diffusion-barrier
• error diffusion

 

Related terms

• diffuseness
• diffusity

Translations

in physics, scattering of light

Arabic: اِنْتِشَار‎ (ar) m (intišār) Chinese: Mandarin: 散射 (zh) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can French: diffusion (fr) f German: Streuung (de) f Hindi: विसरण (hi) m (visaraṇ) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Persian: انتشار‎ (fa) (entešâr) Polish: rozprzestrzenianie (pl) n Russian: please add this translation if you can Spanish: please add this translation if you can Thai: please add this translation if you can

in physics, intermingling of molecules

Bulgarian: дифузия (bg) f (difuzija) Catalan: difusió (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 擴散／扩散 (zh) (kuòsàn) Czech: difuze f Dutch: diffusie (nl) f French: diffusion (fr) f German: Diffusion (de) f Hindi: विसरण (hi) m (visaraṇ) Indonesian: difusi (id) Japanese: 拡散 (ja) (かくさん, kakusan) Maori: ingotanga Polish: dyfuzja (pl) f Portuguese: difusão (pt) f Romanian: difuzie (ro) f Russian: диффу́зия (ru) f (diffúzija) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: дифузија f Roman: difuzija (sh) f Spanish: difusión (es) f Tagalog: panunuot Turkish: difüzyon (tr)

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

Irish: (please verify) idirleathadh m

See also

• diffuser

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin diffusio, diffusionem. Synchronically analysable as diffuser +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.fy.zjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

diffusion f (plural diffusions)

1. broadcasting, showing
2. dissemination, diffusion (of culture, knowledge, etc.)
3. circulation (of a news medium)
4. (physics) diffusion

Derived terms

• liste de diffusion

Related terms

• diffus
• diffuser

Descendants

• → Romanian: difuziune
• → Turkish: difüzyon

See also

• émission

Further reading

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