current

See also: Current

English

Etymology

From Middle English curraunt, borrowed from Old French curant (French courant), present participle of courre (“to run”), from Latin currere, present active infinitive of currō (“I run”) (present participle currens). Doublet of courant.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹ.ənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹ.ənt/, /ˈkɝ.ɪnt/, /ˈkɝ.ənt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Audio (US, accents with the hurry-furry merger)

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹ.ɪnt/
• Rhymes: -ʌɹənt
• Homophones: currant, courant (hurry-furry and cure-nurse merger)

Noun

current (countable and uncountable, plural currents)

1. The generally unidirectional movement of a gas or fluid.
   • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

     The mantle is important to our discussion in that its viscous nature can conduct convection currents that have effects on the crust upon which we live.

2. The part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction, especially (oceanography) short for ocean current.

   Synonyms: flow, stream

3. (electricity) the amount of electric charge flowing in each unit of time.
   • Symbol: I (inclined upper case letter "I")
   • Units:

   SI: ampere (A)

   CGS: esu/second (esu/s)

   Synonym: electric current

4. a tendency or a course of events

   Synonyms: flow, stream, tendency

Derived terms

• account current
• alternating current
• Birkeland current
• branch current method
• call-with-current-continuation
• charged current
• convective current
• current balance
• current divider
• current money
• current sheet
• current-traditionalism
• current-traditionalist
• current-traditional rhetoric
• dark current
• direct current
• displacement current
• down-current
• eddy current
• electrical current
• electric current
• Foucault current
• four-current
• funny current
• induced current
• injury current
• Kirchhoff's current law
• leakage current
• mesh current
• neutral current
• ocean current
• pacemaker current
• pass current
• phasing current
• Planck current
• price-current
• residual-current device
• return current
• rip current
• saturation current
• sneak current
• substorm current wedge
• Swift Current
• telluric current
• tidal current
• transcranial direct current stimulation
• turbidity current
• undercurrent
• Y current

 

Related terms

• course
• currency

 

Translations

part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction — see also ocean current

• Albanian: lumë (sq) f
• Arabic: تَيَّار m (tayyār)
• Armenian: հոսանք (hy) (hosankʿ)
• Assamese: সোঁত (xü̃t)
• Bau Bidayuh: selog, sobag
• Belarusian: пато́к m (patók), цячэ́нне n (cjačénnje)
• Brunei Bisaya: sinolog
• Bulgarian: стру́я (bg) f (strúja)
• Burmese: ယဉ် (my) (yany)
• Catalan: riu (ca) m, corrent (ca) m
• Cebuano: sulog
• Central Melanau: aruih
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水流 (zh) (shuǐliú), 流 (zh) (liú)

• Czech: proud (cs) m
• Dutch: stroming (nl) f, stroom (nl) m
• Esperanto: fluo
• Estonian: hoovus
• Finnish: virta (fi), virtaus (fi)
• French: courant (fr) m
• Friulian: corint f
• Galician: corrente (gl) f
• Georgian: დინება (dineba), ნაკადი (naḳadi)
• German: Strömung (de) f
• Greek: ρεύμα (el) n (révma)

  Ancient: ῥεῦμα n (rheûma)

• Hawaiian: au
• Hebrew: זֶרֶם (he) m (zerem)
• Hindi: प्रवाह (hi) m (pravāh), धारा (hi) f (dhārā)
• Hungarian: áram (hu), áramlat (hu), (in certain phrases, e.g. "drift with the current") ár (hu)
• Iban: arus, arong
• Indonesian: arus (id)
• Interlingua: currente
• Iranun: reges
• Irish: sruth m
• Italian: corrente (it) f
• Japanese: 流れ (ja) (ながれ, nagare)
• Kazakh: ағым (ağym)
• Khmer: ចរន្ត (km) (caʼrɑn), ស្រោតា (km) (sraotaa)
• Kimaragang: linogod
• Korean: 흐름 (ko) (heureum)
• Lao: ກະແສ (lo) (ka sǣ)
• Latin: flumen (la) n, cursus m, aestus (la) m (current of sea)
• Latvian: straume (lv) f
• Lithuanian: srovė f, tėkmė f
• Lotud: sinolog
• Macedonian: струја f (struja)
• Malay: arus (ms)
• Manx: stroo m
• Maori: au
• Mongolian: урсгал (mn) (ursgal)
• Norman: couothant m (Jersey), halant m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: strøm (no) m

  Nynorsk: straum m

• Occitan: corrent (oc) m
• Old Irish: sruth m or n
• Persian: جریان (fa) (jarayân), جاری (fa) (jâri)
• Polish: prąd (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: corrente (pt) f
• Romanian: curent (ro) m, șuvoi (ro) n, flux (ro) n
• Rungus: murullun
• Russian: пото́к (ru) m (potók), тече́ние (ru) n (tečénije)
• Sanskrit: रेतस् (sa) n (retas)
• Scottish Gaelic: sruth m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стру́ја f

  Roman: strúja (sh) f

• Slovak: tok m, prúd m
• Slovene: tok (sl) m
• Spanish: corriente (es) f
• Swahili: mkondo (sw)
• Swedish: ström (sv) c, strömning (sv) c
• Tagal Murut: aug
• Tagalog: agos (tl)
• Telugu: ప్రవాహం (te) (pravāhaṁ)
• Thai: กระแส (th) (grà-sɛ̌ɛ)
• Turkish: akıntı (tr), akım (tr)
• Ukrainian: струм m (strum), поті́к (uk) m (potík), течія́ f (tečijá)
• Urdu: دھارا f (dhārā)
• Vietnamese: dòng (vi)

time rate of flow of electric charge

• Albanian: rryme f
• Arabic: تَيَّار m (tayyār)
• Aragonese: corrient f
• Armenian: հոսանք (hy) (hosankʿ)
• Azerbaijani: cərəyan (az)
• Basque: korronte
• Belarusian: ток m (tok)
• Bengali: প্রবাহ (bn) (probaho)
• Bulgarian: ток (bg) m (tok)
• Burmese: လျှပ်စီး (my) (hlyapci:)
• Catalan: corrent (ca) m
• Central Melanau: karen
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 電流／电流 (zh) (diànliú)

• Czech: proud (cs) m
• Danish: strømstyrke c, strøm (da) c
• Dutch: stroom (nl) m
• Estonian: elektrivool (et)
• Finnish: virta (fi), sähkövirta (fi)
• French: courant (fr) m
• Galician: corrente (gl) f
• Georgian: დენი (deni)
• German: Strom (de) m
• Greek: εντάση f (entási)
• Hebrew: זֶרֶם (he) m (zerem)
• Hindi: धारा (hi) f (dhārā), प्रवाह (hi) m (pravāh)
• Hungarian: áram (hu)
• Interlingua: currente
• Italian: corrente (it) m
• Japanese: 電流 (ja) (でんりゅう, denryū)
• Kazakh: ток (tok), электр тогы (élektr togy)
• Korean: 전류(電流) (ko) (jeollyu)
• Kyrgyz: ток (ky) (tok)
• Lao: ກະແສໄຟຟ້າ (lo) (ka sǣ fai fā)
• Latvian: strāva f
• Lithuanian: srovė f
• Macedonian: струја f (struja)
• Malay: arus (ms)
• Maori: iahiko
• Mongolian: гүйдэл (mn) (güjdel)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: strøm (no) m, strømstyrke m

  Nynorsk: straum m, straumstyrke m

• Occitan: corrent (oc) m
• Persian: جریان (fa) (jarayân)
• Polish: prąd (pl) m inan, natężenie prądu n
• Portuguese: corrente (pt) f, amperagem (pt) f
• Romanian: curent (ro) m
• Russian: ток (ru) m (tok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стру́ја f

  Roman: strúja (sh) f

• Silesian: sztrům m
• Slovak: prúd m
• Slovene: tok (sl) m
• Spanish: corriente (es) f
• Swahili: mkondo (sw)
• Swedish: ström (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaampiran
• Tajik: ҷараён (tg) (jarayon)
• Tatar: агым (tt) (ağım)
• Telugu: కరెంటు (kareṇṭu)
• Thai: กระแส (th) (grà-sɛ̌ɛ), กระแสไฟฟ้า (grà-sɛ̌ɛ-fai-fáa)
• Turkish: akım (tr)
• Turkmen: tok
• Ukrainian: струм m (strum)
• Uyghur: توك (tok)
• Uzbek: tok (uz)
• Vietnamese: dòng điện (vi)

tendency or a course of events

• Bulgarian: ход (bg) m (hod)
• Finnish: suuntaus (fi), virtaus (fi)
• French: courant (fr) m
• Galician: corrente (gl) f
• Greek: ρεύμα (el) n (révma)
• Hungarian: alakulás (hu)
• Italian: corrente (it) m
• Japanese: 流れ (ja) (nagare)
• Korean: 흐름 (ko) (heureum)
• Latvian: gaita (lv) f
• Lithuanian: eiga f, tėkmė f
• Persian: مسیر (fa)
• Romanian: curs (ro) n, mers (ro) n, manieră (ro) f
• Russian: ход (ru) m (xod)
• Swedish: riktning (sv) c, strömning (sv) c, tendens (sv) c
• Thai: แนวโน้ม (th) (nɛɛo-nóom)

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

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} srovė f
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} tok m, ^{(please verify)} prúd

Adjective

current (comparative currenter or more current, superlative currentest or most current)

1. Existing or occurring at the moment.

   Synonyms: present; see also Thesaurus:present

   Antonyms: future, past

   current events

   current leaders

   current negotiations

   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 189, number 6, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

2. Generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment.

   Synonyms: fashionable, prevailing, prevalent, rife, up-to-date; see also Thesaurus:fashionable

   Antonyms: out-of-date, unfashionable; see also Thesaurus:unfashionable

   current affairs

   current bills and coins

   current fashions

   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations:

     That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt.

   • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:

     The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

3. (South Asia) Electric; of or relating to electricity.

   current bill

   current shock

   • 2021 June 13, Ravali Hymavathi, “Telangana: Even The TSSPDCL Is Facing Heavy Losses Due To Covid-19”, in The Hans India‎^[2]:

     In April and May this year, the average daily current consumption dropped to 55 MU […] Compared to household electricity charges, the current unit charge used by commercial companies is higher. […] Electricity consumption is generally higher in summer as compared to monsoon and winter. The use of ACs will increase not only in homes but also in commercial establishments and current consumption will increase.

4. (obsolete) Running or moving rapidly.

   Synonym: speeding

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 114:

     For here we met, some ten or twelve of us, / To chase a creature that was current then / In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.

Derived terms

• current account
• current affairs
• current asset
• current events
• current liability
• currently
• currentness
• current ratio
• current year
• price current

 

Translations

existing or occurring at the moment

• Arabic: جَارٍ (ar) (jārin)
• Armenian: ընթացիկ (hy) (əntʿacʿik)
• Basque: egungo
• Belarusian: цяпе́рашні (cjapjérašni), бягу́чы (be) (bjahúčy)
• Bulgarian: текущ (bg) (tekušt), сегашен (bg) (segašen)
• Catalan: actual (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 活期 (zh) (huóqī), 通用 (zh) (tōngyòng), 現在的／现在的 (zh) (xiànzài de)

• Czech: současný (cs) m
• Danish: aktuel (da), nuværende
• Dutch: huidig (nl), huidige (nl), actueel (nl)
• Esperanto: nuntempa, kuranta
• Estonian: praegune (et)
• Finnish: ajankohtainen (fi), tämänhetkinen (fi), nykyinen (fi)
• French: présent (fr), actuel (fr), courant (fr)
• Friulian: corint
• Galician: actual (gl), corrente (gl), presente (gl)
• Georgian: მიმდინარე (mimdinare), ამჟამინდელი (amžamindeli), ახლანდელი (axlandeli)
• German: gegenwärtig (de), aktuell (de)
• Greek: παρών (el) (parón), τρέχων (el) (tréchon), τωρινός (el) (torinós)
• Hungarian: jelenlegi (hu), aktuális (hu)
• Ingrian: nykyin
• Interlingua: currente
• Italian: corrente (it), attuale (it), odierno (it)
• Japanese: 現行 (ja) (げんこう, genkō), 現在 (ja) (げんざい, genzai), 当座 (ja) (とうざ, tōza)
• Khmer: បច្ចុប្បន្ន (km) (paccobɑn)
• Korean: 현행(現行)의 (hyeonhaeng-ui), 현재(現在)의 (hyeonjae-ui)
• Latvian: pašreizējs, esošs
• Lithuanian: einamasis (lt), dabartinis (lt)
• Luxembourgish: aktuell
• Maori: onāianei
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: aktuell (no), nåværende, dagsaktuell

  Nynorsk: aktuell, noverande, dagsaktuell

• Occitan: actual (oc)
• Persian: کنونی (fa) (konuni)
• Polish: bieżący (pl), aktualny (pl), obecny (pl), każdoczesny (pl) (law)
• Portuguese: corrente (pt), em curso, atual (pt) n
• Romanian: actual (ro), curent (ro), ^{(please verify)} în curs , ^{(please verify)} care se întâmplă
• Russian: ны́нешний (ru) (nýnešnij), теку́щий (ru) (tekúščij), тепе́решний (ru) (tepérešnij) (colloquial)
• Slovak: súčasný (sk) m
• Spanish: actual (es)
• Swahili: kisasa (sw)
• Swedish: nuvarande (sv)
• Telugu: ఇటీవలి (te) (iṭīvali)
• Thai: ปัจจุบัน (th) (bpàt-jù-ban)
• Turkish: güncel (tr)
• Ukrainian: тепе́рішній (uk) (tepérišnij), ни́нішній (nýnišnij), пото́чний (potóčnyj)
• Vietnamese: hiện nay (vi), nay (vi)
• Volapük: nuik (vo)

generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment

• Armenian: ընթացիկ (hy) (əntʿacʿik)
• Bengali: আধুনিক (bn) (adhunik)
• Bulgarian: общоприет (bg) (obštopriet)
• Catalan: actual (ca)
• Czech: aktuální (cs)
• Dutch: aktueel, aktuele
• Finnish: juokseva (fi), käypä (fi), nykyinen (fi), voimassa oleva, vallitseva (fi)
• French: actuel (fr)
• Galician: corrente (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: zeitnah (de) (dated)
• Italian: attuale (it), corrente (it)
• Latvian: esošs
• Norwegian: aktuell (no), nåværende, gjeldende (no)
• Polish: aktualny (pl)
• Portuguese: actual (pt), atual (pt) (br)
• Russian: совреме́нный (ru) m (sovreménnyj), теку́щий (ru) m (tekúščij)
• Spanish: actual (es)
• Swahili: kisasa (sw)
• Swedish: aktuell (sv), gällande (sv), gångbar (sv), innevarande (sv)
• Thai: เป็นที่ยอมรับ (bpen-tîi-yɔɔm-ráp)
• Turkish: geçerli (tr)

electric — see electric

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

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} einamas (lt) m, ^{(please verify)} esamas (lt) m

Anagrams

• Curtner

Latin

Verb

current

1. third-person plural future active indicative of currō