mechanism

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin mechanismus, from Ancient Greek μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “machine”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/, [ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zm̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmek.ə.nɪ.zəm/, [ˈmek.əˌnɪ.zm̩]
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /meˈkʰanisəm/, /ˈmekʰənisəm/

Noun

mechanism (countable and uncountable, plural mechanisms)

1. (within a machine or machinery) Any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
2. Any combination of cams, gears, links, belts, chains and logical mechanical elements.
   • 2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:

     A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.

3. A group of entities, such as objects, that interact together.
   • 2015 December 21, Michael D. Geschwind, “Prion Diseases”, in Continuum (Minneap Minn), →DOI:

     A very rare polymorphism in the prion protein gene recently has been identified that appears to protect against prion disease; this finding, in addition to providing greater understanding of the prionlike mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders, might lead to potential treatments.

   • 2023 March 22, 'Industry Insider', “Restoring Your Railway”, in RAIL, number 979, page 68:

     Outside the boundaries of the PTEs [Passenger Transport Executives], there was little mechanism to re-open routes, and despite a growing realisation that the lack of transport connectivity was a big contributor towards social deprivation and poor economic performance, there was little government policy recognition.

4. A mental, physical, or chemical process.
5. Any process of, or system designed to manage useful energy conversion.
6. (philosophy) The theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.

Derived terms

• Anderson-Higgs mechanism
• antimechanism
• automechanism
• biomechanism
• Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism
• control mechanism
• coping mechanism
• defense mechanism, defence mechanism
• flintlock mechanism
• Geneva mechanism
• Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin mechanism
• GZK mechanism
• Higgs mechanism
• immunomechanism
• mechanismic
• mechanism of death
• mechanist
• mechanistic
• micromechanism
• nanomechanism
• neuromechanism
• pathomechanism
• Penrose mechanism
• pyromechanism
• reaction mechanism
• servomechanism
• servo-mechanism
• servomechanism
• submechanism
• telemechanism

Related terms

• machine

Descendants

• → Welsh: mecanism

Translations

mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion

• Albanian: mekanizëm (sq) m
• Arabic: آلِيَّة f (ʔāliyya)
• Armenian: մեխանիզմ (hy) (mexanizm)
• Azerbaijani: mexanizm (az)
• Belarusian: механі́зм m (mjexanízm)
• Bengali: যন্ত্রকৌশল (bn) (jontrokōuśol)
• Bulgarian: механи́зъм (bg) m (mehanízǎm)
• Burmese: စက်ကိရိယာ (my) (cakki.ri.ya), ယန္တရား (my) (yanta.ra:), ကိရိယာ (my) (ki.ri.ya)
• Catalan: mecanisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機械 / 机械 (zh) (jīxiè), 機構 / 机构 (zh) (jīgòu), 機制 / 机制 (zh) (jīzhì)

• Czech: mechanismus (cs) m
• Danish: mekanisme c
• Dutch: mechanisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: meĥanismo, mekanismo
• Estonian: mehhanism
• Finnish: koneisto (fi), mekanismi (fi)
• French: mécanisme (fr) m
• Galician: mecanismo (gl) m
• Georgian: მექანიზმი (mekanizmi)
• German: Mechanismus (de) m
• Greek: μηχανισμός (el) m (michanismós)
• Hebrew: מַנְגָּנוֹן (he) m (manganón)
• Hindi: तंत्र (hi) m (tantra), यंत्रावली f (yantrāvalī), मेकैनिज़्म m (mekainizm)
• Hungarian: mechanizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: vélhyggja f, gangverk (is) n
• Ido: mekanismo (io)
• Italian: meccanismo (it) m
• Japanese: 仕組み (ja) (しくみ, shikumi), 機構 (ja) (きこう, kikō), 絡繰り (ja) (からくり, karakuri), メカニズム (ja) (mekanizumu)
• Kazakh: механизм (mexanizm)
• Khmer: យន្តម័យ (yŭəntaʼmay), យន្ត (km) (yŭən), គ្រឿង (km) (krɨəng)
• Korean: 기구(器具) (ko) (gigu), 메커니즘 (mekeonijeum)
• Kyrgyz: механизм (mehanizm)
• Lao: ກົນໄກ (kon kai), ເຄື່ອງ (khư̄ang), ຍົນ (lo) (nyon)
• Latin: māchina f
• Latvian: mehānisms m
• Lithuanian: mechanizmas m
• Macedonian: механи́зам m (mehanízam)
• Malay: mekanisme
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: механизм (mn) (mexanizm)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mekanisme m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: مِکانیزْم (fa) (mekânizm), سازوکار (fa) (sâzokâr), ساز و کار (sâz o kâr)

• Polish: mechanizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: mecanismo (pt) m
• Romanian: mecanism (ro) n
• Russian: механи́зм (ru) m (mexanízm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: механѝзам m

  Roman: mehanìzam (sh) m

• Slovak: mechanizmus m
• Slovene: mehanizem m
• Spanish: mecanismo (es) m
• Swedish: mekanism (sv) c
• Tagalog: sigmuan
• Tajik: механизм (mexanizm)
• Tatar: механизм (mexanizm)
• Telugu: యంత్రాంగం (te) (yantrāṅgaṁ)
• Thai: กลไก (th) (gon-gai), เครื่อง (th) (krʉ̂ʉang), ยนต์ (th) (yon)
• Turkish: mekanizma (tr)
• Turkmen: mehanizm
• Ukrainian: механі́зм m (mexanízm)
• Urdu: میکانِزْم m (mekānizm)
• Uzbek: mexanizm (uz)
• Vietnamese: máy móc (vi), bộ máy (vi)

combination of machine elements

• Finnish: koneisto (fi)

group of entities that interact together

• Finnish: koneisto (fi)

mental, chemical, or physical process

• Belarusian: механі́зм m (mjexanízm)
• Bulgarian: механи́зъм (bg) m (mehanízǎm)
• Catalan: mecanisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機理 / 机理 (zh) (jīlǐ)

• Finnish: mekanismi (fi)
• French: mécanisme (fr)
• Greek: μηχανισμός (el) m (michanismós)
• Italian: meccanismo (it)
• Japanese: 仕組み (ja) (しくみ, shikumi), 機構 (ja) (きこう, kikō), 絡繰り (ja) (からくり, karakuri)
• Latvian: mehānisms m
• Portuguese: mecanismo (pt) m
• Romanian: mecanism (ro) n
• Russian: механи́зм (ru) m (mexanízm)
• Spanish: mecanismo (es) m
• Swedish: mekanism (sv) c
• Ukrainian: механі́зм m (mexanízm)

process of, or system designed to manage useful energy conversion

• Finnish: koneisto (fi), mekanismi (fi), järjestelmä (fi)

philosophy: theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes

• Finnish: mekanismi (fi)