mechanism

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin mechanismus, from Ancient Greek μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “machine”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmɛkənɪzm̩/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

mechanism (countable and uncountable, plural mechanisms)

(within a machine or machinery) Any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
Any combination of cams, gears, links, belts, chains and logical mechanical elements.
- 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 112-3:
  A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
A group of entities, such as objects, that interact together.
A mental, physical, or chemical process.
Any process of, or system designed to manage useful energy conversion.
(philosophy) The theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.

Derived terms

defense mechanism, defence mechanism
reaction mechanism

Related terms

machine

Descendants

→ Welsh: mecanism

Translations

mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion

Albanian: mekanizëm (sq) m
Arabic: آلِيَّة‎ f (ʾāliyya)
Armenian: մեխանիզմ (hy) (mexanizm)
Azerbaijani: mexanizm (az)
Belarusian: механі́зм m (mjexanízm)
Bulgarian: механи́зъм (bg) m (mehanízǎm)
Burmese: စက်ကိရိယာ (my) (cakki.ri.ya), ယန္တရား (my) (yanta.ra:), ကိရိယာ (my) (ki.ri.ya)
Catalan: mecanisme (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 機械 (zh), 机械 (zh) (jīxiè), 機構 (zh), 机构 (zh) (jīgòu), 機制 (zh), 机制 (zh) (jīzhì)
Czech: mechanismus (cs) m
Danish: mekanisme c
Dutch: mechanisme (nl) n
Esperanto: meĥanismo, mekanismo
Estonian: mehhanism
Finnish: koneisto (fi), mekanismi (fi)
French: mécanisme (fr) m
Galician: mecanismo m
Georgian: მექანიზმი (mekanizmi)
German: Mechanismus (de) m
Greek: μηχανισμός (el) m (michanismós)
Hebrew: מַנְגָּנוֹן‎ (he) m (manganón)
Hindi: तंत्र (hi) m (tantra)
Hungarian: mechanizmus (hu)
Ido: mekanismo (io)
Italian: meccanismo (it) m
Japanese: 仕組み (ja) (しくみ, shikumi), 機構 (ja) (きこう, kikō), 絡繰り (ja) (からくり, karakuri), メカニズム (ja) (mekanizumu)
Kazakh: механизм (mexanizm)
Khmer: យន្តម័យ (yŭəntaʼmay), យន្ត (km) (yŭən), គ្រឿង (km) (krɨəng)
Korean: 기구(器具) (ko) (gigu), 메커니즘 (mekeonijeum)
Kyrgyz: механизм (mehanizm)
Lao: ກົນໄກ (kon kai), ເຄື່ອງ (khư̄ang), ຍົນ (lo) (nyon)
Latin: māchina f
Latvian: mehānisms m
Lithuanian: mechanizmas m
Macedonian: механи́зам m (mehanízam)
Malay: mekanisme
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: механизм (mn) (mexanizm)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: mekanisme m
Persian: مکانیزم‎ (fa) (mekânizm)
Polish: mechanizm (pl) m
Portuguese: mecanismo (pt) m
Romanian: mecanism (ro) n
Russian: механи́зм (ru) m (mexanízm)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: механѝзам m
Roman: mehanìzam (sh) m
Slovak: mechanizmus m
Slovene: mehanizem m
Spanish: mecanismo (es) m
Swedish: mekanism (sv) c
Tagalog: sigmuan
Tajik: механизм (mexanizm)
Tatar: механизм (mexanizm)
Telugu: యంత్రాంగం (te) (yantrāṅgaṁ)
Thai: กลไก (th) (gon-gai), เครื่อง (th) (krʉ̂ʉang), ยนต์ (th) (yon)
Turkish: mekanizma (tr)
Turkmen: mehanizm
Ukrainian: механі́зм m (mexanízm)
Urdu: please add this translation if you can
Uzbek: mexanizm (uz)
Vietnamese: máy móc (vi), bộ máy (vi)

combination of machine elements

Finnish: koneisto (fi)

group of entities that interact together

Finnish: koneisto (fi)

mental, chemical, or physical process

Belarusian: механі́зм m (mjexanízm)
Bulgarian: механи́зъм (bg) m (mehanízǎm)
Catalan: mecanisme (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 機理 (zh), 机理 (zh) (jīlǐ)
Finnish: mekanismi (fi)
French: mécanisme (fr)
Greek: μηχανισμός (el) m (michanismós)
Italian: meccanismo (it)
Japanese: 仕組み (ja) (しくみ, shikumi), 機構 (ja) (きこう, kikō), 絡繰り (ja) (からくり, karakuri)
Latvian: mehānisms m
Portuguese: mecanismo (pt) m
Romanian: mecanism (ro) n
Russian: механи́зм (ru) m (mexanízm)
Spanish: mecanismo (es) m
Swedish: mekanism (sv) c
Ukrainian: механі́зм m (mexanízm)

process of, or system designed to manage useful energy conversion

Finnish: koneisto (fi), mekanismi (fi), järjestelmä (fi)

philosophy: theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes

Finnish: mekanismi (fi)