tangentとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Borrowed from Latin tangentem, the accusative of tangēns (“touching”) (in the phrase līnea tangēns (“a touching line”)), the present participle of the verb tangō (“touch”, verb), from Proto-Italic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).

Cognate with 古期英語 þaccian (“to touch lightly, pat, stroke”). More at thack, thwack.

発音

• enPR: tăn'jənt, IPA: /ˈtæn.d͡ʒənt/
• 韻: -ændʒənt

名詞

tangent (plural tangents)

1. (differential geometry) A straight line touching a curve at a single point without crossing it there.

   Synonym: tangent line

   • 1951 May, “British Railways Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:

     One feature of the body, which is constructed of pressed-steel members, is the contour of the sides. They are in the form of a continuous radius from the bottom side to the cant rail, and to enable flat glass windows to be fitted the side panels are pressed around the window opening, forming a tangent to the curved bodyside.

2. (mathematics) A function of an angle that gives the ratio of the sine to the cosine, in either the real or complex numbers. Symbols: tan, tg.
3. A topic nearly unrelated to the main topic, but having a point in common with it.

   I believe we went off onto a tangent when we started talking about monkeys on unicycles at his retirement party.

   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 1, in Well Tackled!‎:

     “Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?”

   • 2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, in Hecklerspray‎, archived from the original on 15 April 2024:

     Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a show based on two facts: (1) Jon and Kate Gosselin have eight children, and (2) the word ‘Kate’ rhymes with the word ‘eight’. One suspects that if Kate were ever to have another child, a shady network executive would urge her to put it in a binbag with a brick and drop it down a well. But this is just a horrifying tangent.

4. (art) A visual interaction between two or more lines or edges that creates a perceived relationship between them, often in a way that the artist did not intend.
5. (music) A small metal blade in a clavichord that strikes the strings to produce sound.

派生語

関連する語

• tangential

形容詞

tangent (not comparable)

1. (geometry) Touching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that point.
2. Of a topic, only loosely related to a main topic.

   Synonym: tangential

3. (rail transport, of track) Straight; not horizontally curved.

   The collision occurred on a two-mile stretch of tangent track.

派生語

• tangently

参考

• cosine
• non sequitur
• sine
• trigonometry

動詞

tangent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of tangō