magnet

From Middle English magnete, via Old French magnete, Latin magnēs, magnētem (“lodestone”), from Ancient Greek μαγνῆτις [λίθος] (magnêtis [líthos], “Magnesian [stone]”), either after the Lydian city Magnesia ad Sipylum (modern-day Manisa, Turkey), or after the Greek region of Μαγνησία (Magnēsía) (whence came the colonist who founded the city in Lydia). Related to manganese, magnesia and magnesium.

A stack of ferrite magnets

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmæɡnət/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæɡnɪt/
• Homophone: magnate (one pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -ɪt

magnet (plural magnets)

1. A piece of material that attracts some metals by magnetism.
2. (informal, figuratively, often in combination) A person or thing that attracts what is denoted by the preceding noun.

   He always had a girl on his arm – he's a bit of a babe magnet.

   • 1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 157:

     Iron and coal were the magnets that drew railways to this land of lovely valleys and silent mountains—for such it was a century-and-a-half ago, before man blackened the valleys with the smoke of his forges, scarred the green hills with his shafts and waste-heaps, and drove the salmon from the quiet Rhondda and the murmuring Taff.

   • 2007 March, J. Michael Fay, “Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma”, in National Geographic, section 47:

     […] I wanted to show Nick the largest of the water holes, Rigueik, that act as magnets to life in the dry season.

   • 2022, Steve Mann, Easy Peasy Cocker Spaniel:

     Regular baths will help keep your dog clean and fresh-smelling. The frequency will depend entirely on your own preferences as well as how much of a mud-magnet your dog is!

3. (Internet) Short for magnet link.
   • 2019, David Adams, Ann-Kathrin Maier, Big Seven Study (2016): 7 open source Crypto-Messengers to be compared, page 142:

     Magnets are thus used to create a package of cryptologic information and bundling^[sic] it together.

• electret (a magnet analog for electric charge)

• → Cebuano: magnet
• →? Indonesian: magnet
• →? Malay: magnet
• → Tagalog: magnet
• → Welsh: magnet

• Wikipedia article on magnets
• Wikipedia article on magnetism

• Getman

magnet m (plural magnete, definite magneti, definite plural magnetet)

1. magnet

• “magnet”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎ (in Albanian), 1980

Borrowed from English magnet, from Old French magnete, Latin magnetum "lodestone" from Ancient Greek μαγνῆτις [λίθος] (magnêtis [líthos], “Magnesian [stone]”), either after the Lydian city Magnesia ad Sipylum (modern-day Manisa, Turkey), or after the Greek region of Μαγνησία (Magnēsía) (whence came the colonist who founded the city in Lydia).

• Hyphenation: mag‧net

magnet

1. magnet

Derived from Ancient Greek μαγνῆτις (magnêtis).

• IPA^(key): [ˈmaɡnɛt]

magnet m inan

1. magnet

• magnet in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• magnet in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• magnet in Internetová jazyková příručka

magnet c (singular definite magneten, plural indefinite magneter)

1. magnet

• “magnet” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɡ̊net/

magnet (genitive magneti, partitive magnetit)

1. magnet

• magnet in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “magnet”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “magnet”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN

magnet f (genitive singular magnetar, plural magnetir)

1. magnet

• sigul
• magnetur

• "magnet" at Sprotin.fo

Borrowed from Dutch magneet, from Middle Dutch magneet, from older magnes, from Latin magnēs, from Ancient Greek μαγνήτης λίθος (magnḗtēs líthos).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmak.nɛt/
• Rhymes: -nɛt
• Hyphenation: mag‧net

magnet (plural magnet-magnet, first-person possessive magnetku, second-person possessive magnetmu, third-person possessive magnetnya)

1. magnet:
   1. (electromagnetism) a piece of material that attracts some metals by magnetism.

      Synonyms: sembrani, besi sembrani, batu semberani, batu berani

• “magnet” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

magnet (Jawi spelling مݢنيت, plural magnet-magnet, informal 1st possessive magnetku, 2nd possessive magnetmu, 3rd possessive magnetnya)

1. magnet

• “magnet” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

magnet

1. Alternative form of magnete

magnet m (definite singular magneten, indefinite plural magneter, definite plural magnetene)

1. a magnet

• “magnet” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

magnet m (definite singular magneten, indefinite plural magnetar, definite plural magnetane)

1. a magnet

• “magnet” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from German Magnet.

• IPA^(key): /maɡˈnet/

magnet m (plural magneți)

1. magnet

• magnet in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “the exact, indirect route from Greek, please”)

• IPA^(key): /mǎɡneːt/
• Hyphenation: mag‧net

màgnēt m (Cyrillic spelling ма̀гне̄т)

1. a magnet (piece of material that attracts metal by magnetism)

• “magnet” in Hrvatski jezični portal

• IPA^(key): [ˈmaɡɲet]

magnet m inan (genitive singular magnetu, nominative plural magnety, genitive plural magnetov)

1. magnet

• “magnet”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

• IPA^(key): /maɡnéːt/

magnẹ̑t m inan

1. magnet

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• “magnet”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “the exact route, please”)

magnet c

1. a magnet (piece of material that attracts metal by magnetism)

• → Finnish: magneetti

• magnet in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• magnet in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• magnet in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Borrowed from English magnet.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɡnet/, [ˈmaɡ.nɛt]
• Hyphenation: mag‧net

magnet (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜄ᜔ᜈᜒᜆ᜔)

1. magnet

   Synonym: balani

• magnetiko
• magnetismo

• “magnet”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Borrowed from English magnet.

magnet m or f (plural magnetau or magnets)

1. magnet

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “magnet”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies