constant

See also: Constant

English

Etymology

From Middle English constant, from Old French constant, from Latin constantem, accusative of constans, from constare (“to stand firm”). Displaced native Old English singal.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnstənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnstənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

constant (comparative more constant, superlative most constant)

1. Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
2. Consistently recurring over time; persistent.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:continuous

   • 2013 November 16, Schumpeter, “The mindfulness business”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8862:

     The constant pinging of electronic devices is driving many people to the end of their tether. Electronic devices not only overload the senses and invade leisure time. They feed on themselves: the more people tweet the more they are rewarded with followers and retweets.

3. Steady in purpose, action, feeling, etc.
   • c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Second Booke] Chapter 3”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC, folio 162, recto:

     Both loving one fair maid, they yet remained constant friends.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     I am constant to my purposes.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gained.

4. Firm; solid; not fluid.
   • 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC:

     If […] you mix them, you may turn these two fluid liquors into a constant body.

5. (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     I am no more mad than you are: make the trial of it with any constant question.

6. (computing, complexity theory) Bounded above by a constant.

   constant time   constant space

Synonyms

• (unchanged through time or space): nonchanging, unaltering, unvarying; see also Thesaurus:changeless

Derived terms

• constantive
• constant morphism
• constantness
• constant of integration
• constant speed drive
• constant-speed propeller
• constant time
• constant velocity
• constant-velocity
• constant-wear garment
• multiconstant
• nonconstant
• thermoconstant
• unconstant
• uniconstant

 

Translations

unchanged through time

• Arabic: ثَابِت (ar) (ṯābit)
• Azerbaijani: daimi (az), mütəmadi
• Breton: kendalc'hus
• Bulgarian: постоянен (bg) (postojanen), неизменен (bg) (neizmenen)
• Catalan: constant (ca)
• Dutch: constant (nl)
• Esperanto: konstanta
• Estonian: püsiv
• Finnish: pysyvä (fi), muuttumaton (fi), vakaa (fi), vakio-
• French: constant (fr)
• Galician: constante (gl) m or f
• Georgian: მუდმივი (mudmivi)
• German: beständig (de), konstant (de)
• Greek: σταθερός (el) m (statherós), συνεχής (el) (synechís)

  Ancient: συνεχής (sunekhḗs)

• Hungarian: állandó (hu), változatlan (hu)
• Ido: konstanta (io)
• Indonesian: konstan (id), tetap (id)
• Ingrian: jokaaikain
• Irish: diongbháilte
• Italian: costante (it)
• Kazakh: тұрақты (tūraqty)
• Latin: constans (la)
• Maori: pūmau, tūmau, taimau, aumou
• Old English: singal
• Persian: ثابت (fa) (sâbet)
• Plautdietsch: bestendich
• Polish: stały (pl)
• Portuguese: constante (pt)
• Romanian: constant (ro) m or n, constantă (ro) f, neschimbat (ro) m or n
• Russian: постоя́нный (ru) (postojánnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: seasmhach
• Serbo-Croatian: postojan (sh), stalan (sh)
• Spanish: constante (es)
• Swedish: konstant (sv)
• Tagalog: lagian, maligo
• Turkish: kalıcı (tr), sabit (tr)
• Ukrainian: пості́йний (postíjnyj)
• Welsh: cyson (cy)

consistently recurring over time

• Azerbaijani: mütəmadi
• Bulgarian: постоянен (bg) (postojanen), непрекъснат (bg) (neprekǎsnat)
• Catalan: constant (ca)
• Finnish: jatkuva (fi), tasainen (fi), vakio-
• French: constant (fr)
• German: regelmäßig (de), ständig (de), stetig (de)
• Greek: σταθερός (el) m (statherós), διαρκής (el) m or f (diarkís), αδιάκοπος (el) m (adiákopos)
• Hungarian: folytonos (hu)
• Indonesian: konstan (id)
• Ingrian: iänikäin
• Irish: síoraí
• Italian: costante (it), continuo (it)
• Maori: rite tonu
• Old English: singal
• Polish: bezustanny (pl)
• Portuguese: constante (pt)
• Romanian: constant (ro) m or n, constantă (ro) f
• Scottish Gaelic: cunbhalach
• Spanish: constante (es)
• Swedish: konstant (sv)
• Tagalog: lagian, maligo

steady

• Azerbaijani: mütəmadi
• Breton: kendalc'hus
• Catalan: constant (ca), ferm (ca), perseverant (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 持久的 (Chíjiǔde)

• Finnish: vakaa (fi), muuttumaton (fi)
• French: constant (fr)
• German: konstant (de), fest (de)
• Greek: σταθερός (el) m (statherós), συνεχής (el) m (synechís)
• Hungarian: állhatatos (hu), kitartó (hu)
• Irish: diongbháilte
• Italian: costante (it)
• Polish: stały (pl)
• Portuguese: constante (pt)
• Romanian: constant (ro) m or n, stabil (ro) m
• Sanskrit: धीर (sa) (dhīra)
• Scottish Gaelic: cunbhalach, seasmhach
• Spanish: constante (es), perseverante (es)
• Swedish: konstant (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} konstanta
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} קבוע m (qavua), ^{(please verify)} קבועה f (qvu'a) (1,2); ^{(please verify)} תמידי m (tmidy), ^{(please verify)} תמידית f (tmidyt) (2)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} firme (es)
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} ста́лий m (stályj)

Noun

constant (plural constants)

polynomial degrees

Previous:	n/a
Next:	linear

1. That which is permanent or invariable.
2. (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion.
   • 2015, Emanuel Carneiro, Damiano Foschi, Diogo Oliveira e Silva, Christoph Thiele, “A sharp trilinear inequality related to Fourier restriction on the circle”, in arXiv‎^[1]:

     We also establish that constants are local extremizers of the Tomas-Stein adjoint restriction inequality as well as of another inequality appearing in the program..

3. (sciences) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
   • 2015, Lenny H.E. Winkel et al., “Selenium Cycling Across Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Interfaces: A Critical Review”, in Nutrients‎^[2], volume 7, →DOI:

     Based on their acid dissociation constants (pKa), seleneous^[sic] acid (H2SeO3) and selenic acid (H2SeO4) are anionic under common environmental conditions [48], e.g., as selenite (SeO32−) and selenate (SeO42−).

4. (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.

Derived terms

• absolute constant
• acid dissociation constant
• Apéry's constant
• Archimedes' constant
• Avogadro constant
• Avogadro's constant
• Boltzmann constant
• Boltzmann's constant
• Brun's constant
• Catalan's constant
• Chaitin's constant
• Champernowne constant
• constant function
• constant of integration
• constant problem
• Conway's constant
• Copeland-Erdős constant
• cosmological constant
• Coulomb's constant
• de Bruijn-Newman constant
• decay constant
• dielectric constant
• Dirac constant
• Dirac's constant
• Einstein constant
• Einstein's constant
• equilibrium constant
• Euler-Mascheroni constant
• Feigenbaum constant
• fine-structure constant
• fine structure constant
• Fransén-Robinson constant
• fundamental constant
• gas constant
• Gelfond's constant
• gravitational constant
• Henry's law constant
• Hubble constant
• Hubble's constant
• Landau-Ramanujan constant
• lattice constant
• Legendre's constant
• logical constant
• Ludolph's constant
• Madelung constant
• magic constant
• Napier's constant
• physical constant
• Planck constant
• Planck's constant
• propositional constant
• Ramanujan's constant
• rate constant
• reaction rate constant
• Rydberg constant
• screening constant
• separation constant
• shielding constant
• sofa constant
• solar constant
• Sommerfeld's constant
• spring constant
• Stefan-Boltzmann constant
• Stieltjes constant
• symbolic constant
• time constant

 

Translations

that which is permanent or invariable

• Azerbaijani: daimi kəmiyyət
• Breton: kendalc'h (br) m
• Bulgarian: постоянна величина f (postojanna veličina)
• Catalan: constant (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 常數／常数 (zh) (chángshù)

• Danish: konstant c
• Finnish: vakio (fi)
• German: Konstante (de) f, Fixwert m (banking)
• Greek: σταθερά (el) f (statherá)
• Hindi: स्थिरांक m (sthirāṅk)
• Hungarian: állandó (hu), konstans (hu)
• Italian: costante (it) f
• Japanese: 定数 (ja) (ていすう, teisū)
• Korean: 변하지 않는 것 (byeonhaji anneun geot)
• Persian: ثابت (fa) (sâbet), ماندگار (fa) (mândegâr)
• Polish: stała (pl) f
• Portuguese: constante (pt) f
• Russian: постоя́нная (ru) f (postojánnaja), конста́нта (ru) f (konstánta)
• Serbo-Croatian: postojanost (sh) f, stalnost (sh) f
• Spanish: constante (es) f
• Swedish: konstant (sv) c
• Ukrainian: ста́ла f (stála), конста́нта f (konstánta)

algebra: quantity that remains fixed

• Azerbaijani: daimi kəmiyyət
• Bulgarian: конста́нта f (konstánta)
• Catalan: constant (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 常量 (zh) (chángliàng), 常數／常数 (zh) (chángshù)

• Danish: konstant c
• Finnish: vakio (fi)
• German: Konstante (de) f
• Greek: σταθερά (el) f (statherá)
• Hindi: स्थिरांक m (sthirāṅk)
• Hungarian: állandó (hu), konstans (hu)
• Indonesian: konstanta (id)
• Italian: costante (it) f
• Japanese: 定数 (ja) (ていすう, teisū)
• Khmer: ចំនួនថេរ (cɑmnuən thee)
• Korean: 상수(常數) (sangsu), 정수(定數) (ko) (jeongsu)
• Malay: pemalar (ms), angkatap
• Maori: tau pūmau
• Persian: ثابت (fa) (sâbet)
• Polish: stała (pl) f
• Portuguese: constante (pt) f
• Russian: постоя́нная (ru) f (postojánnaja), конста́нта (ru) f (konstánta)
• Spanish: constante (es) f
• Swedish: konstant (sv) c
• Tagalog: lagiin
• Thai: ค่าคงที่ (kâa-kong-tîi), ค่าคงตัว (kâa-kong-dtuua)
• Vietnamese: hằng số (vi), hằng (vi)

science: property that does not change

• Danish: konstant c
• Finnish: vakio (fi)
• Georgian: მუდმივა (mudmiva)
• German: Konstante (de) f
• Greek: σταθερά (el) f (statherá)
• Hungarian: állandó (hu), konstans (hu)
• Italian: costante (it) f
• Japanese: 定数 (ja) (teisū)
• Persian: ثابت (fa) (sâbet)
• Polish: stała (pl) f
• Portuguese: constante (pt) f
• Russian: постоя́нная (ru) f (postojánnaja)
• Swedish: konstant (sv) c
• Tagalog: lagiin
• Thai: ค่าคงที่ (kâa-kong-tîi), ค่าคงตัว (kâa-kong-dtuua)
• Turkish: sabit (tr)
• Vietnamese: hằng số (vi)
• Welsh: cysonyn m

identifier that is bound to an invariant value

• Czech: konstanta f
• Esperanto: konstanto
• Finnish: vakio (fi)
• French: constante (fr) f
• German: Konstante (de) f
• Greek: σταθερά (el) f (statherá)
• Hungarian: állandó (hu), konstans (hu)
• Indonesian: konstanta (id)
• Italian: costante (it) f
• Persian: ثابت (fa) (sâbet)
• Polish: stała (pl) f
• Portuguese: constante (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: konstanta (sh) f
• Spanish: constante (es) f
• Swedish: konstant (sv) c
• Tagalog: lagiin

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} constante (fr) f
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} сталина́ f (stalyná)

Related terms

• constantly (adv)
• constancy (n)

See also

• (computing) literal

Catalan

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin cōnstantem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kunsˈtan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [konsˈtant]
• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

constant m or f (masculine and feminine plural constants)

1. constant

   Antonym: inconstant

Derived terms

• constantment
• inconstant

Related terms

• constància

Noun

constant f (plural constants)

1. constant

Further reading

• “constant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “constant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “constant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “constant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology 2

Verb

constant

1. gerund of constar

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French constant, from Latin cōnstāns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈstɑnt/, /ˈkɔn.stɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧stant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Adjective

constant (comparative constanter, superlative constantst)

1. constant, invariable
2. constant, continuous, unceasing

Declension

Declension of constant
uninflected	constant
inflected	constante
comparative	constanter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		constant	constanter	het constantst het constantste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	constante	constantere	constantste
	n. sing.	constant	constanter	constantste
	plural	constante	constantere	constantste
definite		constante	constantere	constantste
partitive		constants	constanters	—

Derived terms

• constante
• constantheid

Descendants

• → Indonesian: konstan

French

Etymology

From Latin cōnstantem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃s.tɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: constants

Adjective

constant (feminine constante, masculine plural constants, feminine plural constantes)

1. constant

Derived terms

• constamment

Related terms

• constance

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

cōnstant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of cōnstō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French constant, from Latin constans.

Adjective

constant m or n (feminine singular constantă, masculine plural constanți, feminine and neuter plural constante)

1. constant

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	constant		constantă		constanți	constante
	definite	constantul		constanta		constanții	constantele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	constant		constante		constanți	constante
	definite	constantului		constantei		constanților	constantelor