different between flux vs efflux

English

Etymology

From Old French flux, from Latin fluxus (“flow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fl?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Noun

flux (countable and uncountable, plural fluxes)

1. The act of flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing stream.
   • 1730, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments

     By […] the perpetual Flux of the Liquids, a great part of the Liquids is thrown out of the Body.

   • 1991, Mann, H., Fyfe, W., Tazaki, K., & Kerrich, R., Biological Accumulation of Different Chemical Elements by Microorganisms from Yellowstone National Park, USA. Mechanisms And Phylogeny Of Mineralization In Biological Systems, 357-362.

     Investigation of the silica budget for the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins of Yellowstone National Park by Truesdell et al. suggest that the present fluxes of hotspring water and thermal energy may have been continuous for at least the past 10,000 yr.

2. A state of ongoing change.

   The schedule is in flux at the moment.

   Languages, like our bodies, are in a continual flux.

   • 1856, Richard Chenevix Trench, On the Death of an Infant

     Her image has escaped the flux of things, / And that same infant beauty that she wore / Is fixed upon her now forevermore.
3. A chemical agent for cleaning metal prior to soldering or welding.

   It is important to use flux when soldering or oxides on the metal will prevent a good bond.

4. (physics) The rate of transfer of energy (or another physical quantity) through a given surface, specifically electric flux, magnetic flux.

   That high a neutron flux would be lethal in seconds.

5. (archaic) A disease which causes diarrhea, especially dysentery.
6. (archaic) Diarrhea or other fluid discharge from the body.
7. The state of being liquid through heat; fusion.

Antonyms

• (state of ongoing change): stasis

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

flux (third-person singular simple present fluxes, present participle fluxing, simple past and past participle fluxed)

1. (transitive) To use flux on.

   You have to flux the joint before soldering.

2. (transitive) To melt.
3. (intransitive) To flow as a liquid.

Related terms

• fluxion

Adjective

flux (not comparable)

1. (uncommon) Flowing; unstable; inconstant; variable.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, "On Contentment", Sermon XL, in The Theological Works, Volume 2, Clarendon Press, 1818, page 375:

     The flux nature of all things here.

Related terms

• fluxional

Related terms

• fluctuant

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin fluxus. Doublet of fluix.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?fluks/

Noun

flux m (plural fluxos)

1. flow

Related terms

• fluir

Further reading

• “flux” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fluxus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fly/

Noun

flux m (plural flux)

1. flow
2. flood, flood tide

   Antonym: reflux

3. (figuratively) flood (an abundance of something)

Derived terms

Further reading

• “flux” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Noun

flux m (oblique plural flux, nominative singular flux, nominative plural flux)

1. diarrhea (rapid passage of fecal matter through the bowels)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French flux.

Noun

flux n (plural fluxuri)

1. flow (the flow of the tide)

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French flux. Doublet of flujo and flojo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?flu?s/, [?flu??s]

Noun

flux m (plural fluxes)

1. (card playing) flush (hand consisting of all cards with the same suit)
2. (Venezuela, colloquial, Dominican Republic, dated) suit (set of clothes)

   Synonyms: terno, traje

Further reading

• “flux” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Latin effluxus, from efflu? (“flow out or away”), from ex (“out of, from”) + flu? (“flow”). See also effluxion

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fl?ks/

Noun

efflux (countable and uncountable, plural effluxes)

1. The process of flowing out.

   We all age through the efflux of time.

   The efflux of matter from a boil can be painful.

   • 1988, Elizabeth Sagey, Degree of closure in complex segments, Norval Smith, Harry van der Hulst (editors), Features, Segmental Structure and Harmony Processes, Part 1, Linguistic Models 12a, page 176,

     The remaining effluxes are pronounced without audible velar release.

   • 2003, Awtar Krishan, Flow cytometric monitoring of drug resistance in human tumor cells, R.C. Sobti, A. Krishan (editors), Advanced Flow Cytometry: Applications in Biological Research, page 55,

     By facilitating efflux of drugs from the intracellular domain, these proteins reduce cytotoxicity and thus confer drug resistance.

2. That which has flowed out.

   the efflux of a boil

   • Prime cheerer, light! […] Efflux divine.

Synonyms

• (process of flowing out): outflow, effluxion, effluence
• (that which has flowed out): outflow

Antonyms

• influx

Translations

Verb

efflux (third-person singular simple present effluxes, present participle effluxing, simple past and past participle effluxed)

1. (intransitive) To run out; to flow forth.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To pass away.