Dictionary

transformer en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /tɹænsˈfoɹməɹ/ (General-American)
• (General-American) audio
• /tɹɑːns-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /tɹænsˈfɔːmə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *térh₂t Proto-Indo-European *-ónts Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂ónts Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂n̥ts Proto-Italic *trāns Proto-Italic *trāns- Latin trāns- Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ)der.? Latin fōrma Latin fōrmō Latin transformo Old French transformer Middle French transfourmerbor. Middle English transformen English transform Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English transformer From transform + -er.

Meanings

1. Something that transforms, changing its own or another thing's shape.
2. A static device that transfers electric energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling; primarily used to transfer energy between different voltage levels, which allows the most appropriate voltages for power generation, transmission and distribution to be chosen separately.
   • While initial reports Thursday traced the glow to a transformer explosion or a fire, Mr. McGee said there was no fire, and there were no transformers involved. 2018 December 28, Michael Gold, “How an Explosion (Not Aliens) Turned New York’s Night Sky an Electric Blue”, in The New York Times:
3. (qualifier:machine learning) A neural network architecture composed of layers of attention which takes sequences of tokens (representing text, images, audio, or other modalities) as input.
   • Privately, many at Google have bristled at criticism of its AI credentials, in particular given that it incubated the underlying technology and released it publicly in the 2017 transformers paper. 2025 May 24, Stephen Morris, Melissa Heikkilä, Cristina Criddle, “Defending the high ground”, in FT Weekend (Big Read section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7:
   • Transformer is a deep machine learning model based on the encoder–decoder network architecture and is used primarily in the field of NLP. 2021, Lei Chen, Deep Learning and Practice with MindSpore, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 116:
   • The transformer helped machine-learning systems improve at a much faster pace, leading directly to last year’s release of ChatGPT and the attendant boom in interest around AI. (Transformers are the “T” in ChatGPT.) 2023 January 31, Casey Newton, “Instagram’s co-founders are back with Artifact, a kind of TikTok for text”, in The Verge:
4. (alt-of) Alternative letter-case form of Transformer.
   alt of Transformer
5. (derogatory, humorous, offensive, slang) A transgender person.

Forms

Deriveds

isolation transformer · transformerless · Transformer · multiple transformer · transformerlike · autotransformer · distribution transformer

Relateds

transform · shape change · transformation · metamorphosis

Translations (95)

cmn 變壓器 /变压器 (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · et transformaator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nb transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · fa ترانسفورماتور (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · hu transzformátor (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ja 変圧器 (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sv transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ro transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ka გარდამქმნელი (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · my လျှပ်တာပြောင်း (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nl transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · fi muuttaja (something that transforms) · pt transformador (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sh трансфо̀рма̄тор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ur ٹرانْسْفارْمَر (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ja 変流器 (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · el μετατροπέας (something that transforms) · mk трансформа́тор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · vi biến áp (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · id transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · es transformador (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sl transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · eu transformadore (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · tl palitab (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · io transformatoro (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · fi transformer (neural network architecture) · fr transformateur (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · de Transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · lt transformatorius (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ky трансформатор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · fi muuntaja (neural network architecture) · fi muuttuja (something that transforms) · io transformilo (something that transforms) · uk трансформа́тор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · es transformador (something that transforms) · da transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nn transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · hi ट्रान्सफ़ॉर्मर (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · bg трансформа́тор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · be трансфарма́тар (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · he שַׁנַּאי (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · bn ট্রান্সফরমার (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ar مُحَوِّل (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · el μετασχηματιστής (something that transforms) · tt трансформатор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · hy փոխակերպիչ (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sq transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · pl transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sw kigeuzi (something that transforms) · ru преобразова́тель (something that transforms) · my ထရန်စဖော်မာ (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · vi máy biến thế (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nb omformer (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ka ტრანსფორმატორი (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · vi máy biến áp (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nb trafo (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ja トランス (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ms pengubah (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · es transfórmer (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · km ត្រង់ស្វមម៉ាទ័រ (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · mi whitihiko (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ko 변압기 (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · lo ໝໍ້ແບ່ງໄຟ (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · es transformadora (something that transforms) · he טְרַנְסְפוֹרְמָטוֹר (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ug ترانسفورماتور (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ko 트랜스 (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · tr transformatör (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · fa مبدل (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · tr trafo (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · fi muuntaja (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · uz transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sk transformátor (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sw transfoma (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nn omformar (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · lv transformators (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · tg трансформатор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · el μετασχηματιστής (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · ru трансформа́тор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · hy տրանսֆորմատոր (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · sh transfòrmātor (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · gu ફેરવણું (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · nn trafo (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · bg преобразова́тел (something that transforms) · th หม้อแปลงไฟฟ้า (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · da transformer (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · cs transformátor (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · mn трансформатор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · az transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · th หม้อแปลงไฟ (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · hi परिणामित्र (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · el μεταμορφωτής (something that transforms) · kk трансформатор (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · tk transformator (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity) · it trasformatore (device that changes the characteristics of AC electricity)

wikidata: Q11658