intersection

English

Etymology

From Middle French intersection, from Latin intersectiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəɹˌsɛkʃən/, /ˌɪntəɹˈsɛkʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

intersection (plural intersections)

1. The junction of two (or more) paths, streets, highways, or other thoroughfares.
   • 2024, NTSB, Intersection Crash Between Passenger Car and Combination Vehicle, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, March 22, 2022:

     We determined that the car driver’s transportation of multiple teen passengers, limited driving experience, and likely impairment from effects of cannabis at the time of the crash adversely affected her judgment of the danger of entering the intersection in front of the approaching combination vehicle.

2. Any overlap, confluence, or crossover.
   • 2015, James Lambert, “Lexicography as a teaching tool: A Hong Kong case study”, in Lan Li, Jamie McKeown, Liming Liu, editors, Dictionaries and corpora: Innovations in reference science. Proceedings of ASIALEX 2015 Hong Kong, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, page 147:

     Within this melee of intersections between English and Cantonese, the students, being themselves bilingually fluent, were able to navigate with perfect ease in communicative contexts where the provenance of a certain term or expression matters little.

3. (geometry) The point or set of points common to two geometrical objects (such as the point where two lines meet or the line where two planes intersect).
4. (set theory) The set containing all the elements that are common to two or more sets.
5. (sports) The element where two or more straight lines of synchronized skaters pass through each other.[1]
6. (category theory) The pullback of a corner of monics.

Synonyms

• (junction of paths): crossroads

Derived terms

• seagull intersection
• T-intersection
• Y-intersection

 

Related terms

• intersect
• intersectional
• intersectionalism
• intersectionalist
• intersectionalistic
• intersectionality

 

Translations

junction of two or more paths, etc

• Albanian: ndërprerje (sq) f, udhëkryq (sq) m
• Arabic: مُفْتَرَق m (muftaraq), تَقَاطُع m (taqāṭuʕ)

  Hijazi Arabic: تَقَاطُع m (tagāṭuʕ)

• Armenian: խաչմերուկ (hy) (xačʻmeruk), քառուղի (hy) (kʻaṙuġi)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܦܪܵܫܬܵܐ f (prašta)
• Azerbaijani: kəsişmə
• Belarusian: скрыжава́нне n (skryžavánnje)
• Bengali: ছেদ (bn) (ched)
• Bulgarian: кръсто́вище n (krǎstóvište), кръстопъ́т (bg) m (krǎstopǎ́t)
• Burmese: လမ်းဆုံ (my) (lam:hcum)
• Catalan: encreuament (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 路口 (lou⁶ hau²)

  Mandarin: 路口 (zh) (lùkǒu), 交叉 (zh) (jiāochā)

• Czech: křižovatka (cs) f
• Danish: kryds (da) n
• Dutch: kruising (nl) f, kruispunt (nl) m
• Esperanto: kruciĝo
• Estonian: ristmik
• Farefare: sorɔpurŋa
• Faroese: vegamót n, krossvegur m
• Finnish: risteys (fi)
• French: carrefour (fr) m, intersection (fr) f
• Georgian: გზაჯვარედინი (gzaǯvaredini), მებოძირი (ka) (meboʒiri)
• German: Kreuzung (de) f, Straßenkreuzung (de) f
• Greek: διασταύρωση (el) f (diastávrosi), σταυροδρόμι (el) n (stavrodrómi)
• Hebrew: צֹמֶת (he) m (tsómet)
• Hindi: चौराहा (hi) m (caurāhā), दोराहा (hi) m (dorāhā)
• Hungarian: útkereszteződés (hu), csomópont (hu)
• Icelandic: vegamót n pl, gatnamót (is) n pl
• Ido: krucovoyo (io)
• Indonesian: persimpangan (id)
• Italian: incrocio (it) m
• Japanese: 交差点 (ja) (こうさてん, kōsaten)
• Kazakh: қиылыс (qiylys)
• Korean: 사거리 (ko) (sageori), 네거리 (ko) (negeori), 교차로 (ko) (gyocharo)
• Kyrgyz: жолтоому (joltoomu)
• Lao: ທະວິບົດ (tha wi bot)
• Latin: ambivium n
• Latvian: krustošanās m
• Lithuanian: sankryža f
• Macedonian: крстопат m (krstopat)
• Malay: persilangan
• Maori: rīpekanga
• Moore: so-baka, so-palempaaga, sotiisi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kryss (no) n

  Nynorsk: kryss n

• Old English: ġelǣte n
• Persian: تقاطع (fa) (taqâto'), چهارراه (fa) (čahâr-râh)
• Polish: skrzyżowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: interseção (pt) f, intersecção (pt) f
• Romanian: intersecție (ro) f, intersectare (ro) f
• Russian: перекрёсток (ru) m (perekrjóstok)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-ghearradh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кри́жа̄ње n, ра́скр̄шће n, ра́скрсница f, ра́скрӣжје n, крѝжӣште n, крижо̀пӯт m, крижо̀пӯће n, крсто̀пӯће n

  Roman: krížānje (sh) n, ráskr̄šće n, ráskrsnica (sh) f, ráskrīžje (sh) n, krìžīšte (sh) n, križòpūt m, križòpūće n, krstòpūće n

• Slovak: križovatka f
• Slovene: križišče (sl) n
• Spanish: cruce (es) m
• Swedish: korsning (sv) c
• Tajik: чорраҳа (čorraha)
• Thai: สี่แยก (th) (sèe-yâek), ทางแยก (taang-yâek), ชุมทาง (chum-taang)
• Turkish: kesişme (tr)
• Ukrainian: перехре́сток m (perexréstok), перехре́стя n (perexréstja)
• Urdu: چوراہا m (caurāhā), تقاطع (taqātu'), چوک (ćok), دوراہا (dorāhā)
• Uzbek: chorraha (uz)
• Vietnamese: ngã đường, ngã tư (vi) (four-way intersection), ngã ba (vi) (three-way intersection), giao lộ
• Welsh: croestoriad m

in geometry

• Arabic: تَقَاطُع (taqāṭuʕ)
• Bulgarian: пресечна точка (presečna točka)
• Catalan: intersecció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 交點／交点 (zh) (jiāodiǎn)

• Czech: průsečík (cs) m
• Danish: skæring, skæringspunkt n
• Dutch: kruispunt (nl) m, doorsnijding f
• Finnish: leikkauspiste (fi), leikkaus (fi)
• French: intersection (fr) f
• German: Schnittpunkt (de) m
• Greek: τομή (el) f (tomí)
• Hebrew: חיתוך
• Hungarian: metszőpont (hu), metszéspont (hu), metszet (hu)
• Icelandic: sniðmengi n, (a single point of intersection) skurðpunktur m
• Ido: interseko (io)
• Japanese: 交点 (ja) (こうてん, kōten)
• Polish: punkt przecięcia m
• Portuguese: interseção (pt) f, intersecção (pt) f
• Romanian: intersecție (ro) f
• Russian: пересече́ние (ru) n (peresečénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-ghearradh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (Ekavian) пре́сек m, (Ijekavian) пре́сјек m

  Roman: (Ekavian) prések m, (Ijekavian) présjek (sh) m

• Slovak: priesečník m
• Spanish: intersección (es) f
• Swedish: skärning (sv) c
• Tagalog: bagtasan, pagbagtas,, bagtas (tl)
• Welsh: croestoriad m

in set theory

• Catalan: intersecció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 交集 (zh) (jiāojí)

• Czech: průnik m
• Danish: fællesmængde c
• Dutch: doorsnede (nl)
• Esperanto: komunaĵo
• Estonian: ühisosa, lõige (et)
• Faroese: felagsmongd f
• Finnish: leikkaus (fi)
• French: intersection (fr) f
• German: Durchschnitt (de) m, Schnittmenge (de) f, Durchschnittsmenge (de) f
• Greek: τομή (el) f (tomí)
• Hebrew: חיתוך
• Hungarian: metszet (hu)
• Icelandic: sniðmengi n, snið (is) n, skurðmengi n, skarmengi n
• Ido: interseko (io)
• Italian: intersezione (it) f
• Japanese: 積集合 (ja) (せきしゅうごう, sekishūgō)
• Korean: 교집합 (ko) (gyojiphap)
• Polish: przekrój (pl) m, część wspólna f, przecięcie (pl) n, iloczyn zbiorów m
• Portuguese: interseção (pt) f, intersecção (pt) f
• Romanian: intersecție (ro) f
• Russian: пересече́ние (ru) n (peresečénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (Ekavian) пре́сек m, (Ijekavian) пре́сјек m

  Roman: (Ekavian) prések m, (Ijekavian) présjek (sh) m

• Slovak: prienik m
• Spanish: intersección (es) f
• Swedish: snitt (sv) n
• Tagalog: bagtasan, pagbagtas,, bagtas (tl)
• Ukrainian: перетин множин (peretyn množyn)
• Welsh: croestoriad m

two or more straight lines of synchronized skaters passing through each other

• Finnish: läpimeno (fi)

See also

• corner
• crossroad, crossroads
• junction
• overlap
• union
• ∩

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

Noun

intersection f (plural intersections)

1. intersection

Further reading

• “intersection”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.