Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1938
Transceiver
transmitter receiver
- Meaning
- A device that both transmits and receives radio signals.
- Source words
- transmitter + receiver
- Coined by
- unknown (amateur radio)
- Year
- 1938
Background
First recorded in US amateur radio magazines. A genuinely useful coinage: before transceivers, a ham radio operator needed two separate boxes. The word reflects the engineering consolidation.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
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