transposable
|trans-pos-a-ble|
🇺🇸
/trænˈspoʊzəbəl/
🇬🇧
/trænˈspəʊzəb(ə)l/
able to be moved or shifted
Etymology
'transposable' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'transponere', where 'trans-' meant 'across' and 'ponere' meant 'to place.'
'transposable' changed from the verb 'transpose' (from Old French/Latin 'transponere') and eventually became the modern English adjective 'transposable' by adding the suffix '-able'.
Initially related to the verb sense 'to place across' or 'to change position', but over time it evolved into the adjective meaning 'able to be transposed' or 'able to be moved/shifted'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
capable of being transposed; able to be moved, shifted, or rearranged to a different position or key.
The melody is transposable into any key.
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Adjective 2
(mathematics) Able to have a transpose taken (often said of matrices or arrays) — i.e., able to be converted by swapping rows and columns.
For this algorithm, we require transposable matrices so that rows and columns can be interchanged.
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Adjective 3
(genetics) Capable of moving from one position in the genome to another (describing a transposable element).
The study focused on a transposable element that can relocate within the genome.
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Last updated: 2025/12/23 17:20