different between fungible vs token

English

Etymology

1765 as noun, 1818 as adjective, from Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungor (“I perform, I discharge a duty”) (English function) +? -ible (“able to”). Originally a legal term, going back to Roman law: res fungibilis (“replaceable things”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f?nd??b?l/, /?f?nd??bl/
• Rhymes: -?b?l, -?bl

Adjective

fungible (comparative more fungible, superlative most fungible)

1. (finance and commerce) Able to be substituted for something of equal value or utility.

   Synonyms: interchangeable, exchangeable, replaceable.

   Antonym: nonfungible

   • 1649, Antony Ascham, Of the confusions and revolutions of governments, 30:

     Take away this fungible instrument from the service of our necessities and how shall we exercise our Charity, which is a branch of Religion and Justice, as well as of Humanity?

   • 1876 [1877], Samuel Dana Horton, Silver and Gold and Their Relation to the Problem of Resumption, page 116:

     Gold is fungible. Silver is fungible; that is, these metals are both so homogeneous that, if I get a pound of pure gold, for example, it is indifferent to me whether it be this pound or that pound, one is as good as another

   • 2011, Will Self, “The frowniest spot on Earth”, London Review of Books, XXXIII.9:

     At the core of Kasarda’s conception of the aerotropolis lies the notion that space – unlike time – is fungible.

   • 2013, Johanna Rothman, Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds

     However, unless you are unique among technical organizations and have fungible staff members who can easily replace each other, you'll need to augment the standardized description with your needs for this particular position.

Derived terms

• fungibility

Translations

Noun

fungible (plural fungibles)

1. (chiefly in the plural) Any fungible item.

   Antonym: nonfungible

References

Further reading

• fungibility on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• bingeful

Catalan

Etymology

From Medieval Latin fungibilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /fu???i.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /fu??d??i.ble/

Adjective

fungible (masculine and feminine plural fungibles)

1. fungible

Further reading

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

German

Adjective

fungible

1. inflection of fungibel:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin fung? (“to perform”). Cognate with fungible.

Adjective

fungible (plural fungibles)

1. fungible, expendable, consumable (exchangeable)

Related terms

• fungir
• función
• defunción

English

Etymology

From Middle English token, taken, from Old English t?cn (“sign”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, from Proto-Germanic *taikn?, from Proto-Indo-European *dey?- (“to show, instruct, teach”) with Germanic *k rather than *h by Kluge's law.

The verb is from Middle English toknen, from Old English t?cnian. Cognate with German Zeichen.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??k?n/
• (US) enPR: t?k??n IPA^(key): /?to?k?n/
• Rhymes: -??k?n

Noun

token (plural tokens)

1. Something serving as an expression of something else.

   Synonyms: sign, symbol

2. A keepsake.

   Synonyms: memento, souvenir

3. A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.

4. A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.

5. A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

   His apology was no more than a token.

   1. A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.
6. (obsolete, sometimes figuratively) Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.
7. Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

   Synonyms: reason, reasoning

8. An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

   Synonym: miracle

9. An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

   Synonym: password

10. A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.
11. Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.
    • ca. 1605, William Shakespeare, Measure fir Measure, Act IV, sc. 3:

      Say, by this token, I desire his company.

    • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 3:12:

      And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

12. A tally.
13. (philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.
14. (computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.

    Synonym: symbol

    Coordinate term: placeholder

    • 2004, Randall Hyde, Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine, page 68

      For each lexeme, the scanner creates a small data package known as a token and passes this data package on to the parser.

15. (computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.
16. (computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.
17. (grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.
18. (corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.
    • 2007, Khurshid Ahmad, "Artificial Ontologies and Real Thoughts: Populating the Semantic Web?", Roberto Basili, Maria Teresa Pazienza (eds.), AI*IA 2007: Artificial Intelligence and Human-Oriented Computing, Springer-Verlag, page 10.

    Antonym: type

19. (medicine) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.
20. (medicine, obsolete) A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

    • Like the fearful tokens of the plague, Are mere fore-runners of their ends.

21. (printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.
22. (mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.
    • 1864 August 6, "Miners and Their Grievances", The Spectator, vol. 37, No. 1884, page 902.

    • 1873, Richard Fynes, The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, page 110.

    • 1877, "Northern Industries", The Primitive Methodist Magazine, page 172.

23. (mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.
24. (rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.
25. (weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.
26. (Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (philosophy): particular, universal, type

References

Adjective

token (comparative more token, superlative most token)

1. Done as an indication or a pledge.
2. Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

   He made a token tap on the brake pedal at the stop sign.

   • 1927, Arthur Robert Burns, Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times, page 393

     If the as had been reduced to a token in 240 BC, it was now a little more token than before.

   • 2000, Cheris Kramarae, Dale Spender, Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Page 176

     There are still many churches where the participation of women is token.

3. (of people) Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

   He was hired as the company's token black person.

   The television show was primarily directed toward a black audience, but it did have a few token white people as performers.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

token (third-person singular simple present tokens, present participle tokening, simple past and past participle tokened)

1. To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
   • 1398, in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press 1962, [[Special:BookSources/978-0-472-01044-8|?ISBN]], page 1242:

     dorr??, d?r? adj. & n. […] Golden or reddish-yellow […] (a. 1398) *Trev. Barth. 59b/a: ?elou? colour [of urine] […] tokeneþ febleness of hete […] dorrey & citrine & li?t red tokeneþ mene.

   • 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin 2010, p. 149:

     The instinct revolted against the inevitable punishment to come, already tokened by those big holes now met in walls and crossings.
2. To betroth
3. (philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate

Derived terms

• betoken
• foretoken

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Dutch

Etymology

From English token.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?to?k?(n)/

Noun

token m or n (plural tokens, diminutive tokentje n)

1. (computing) token, an atomic piece of data.

Usage notes

There is no general agreement about the gender. In the south, people tend to use neuter, whereas in the north, masculine is preferred.

Anagrams

• knoet

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English t?cn, from Proto-Germanic *taikn? (“sign, token, symbol”).

Noun

token (plural tokenes)

1. token (a physical object representing an action, concept, etc.)
2. omen, portent
3. token (support for a belief)
4. prearranged signal
5. token (momento, keepsake)
6. A flag, banner, standard associated with a person or event.
7. model, example
8. guarantee
9. (astronomy) celestial body
10. (astrology) astrological sign

Alternative forms

• tokene, tokin, tokine, tokon, tokne, tocne, toquen
• taken, takein, takin, takine (Northern)
• taken, takein, takin, takine, tacn, tacne, tacnæ, tockne (early)

Descendants

• English: token
• Scots: taiken

References

• “t?ken, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

token (uncountable)

1. (before g-) Alternative form of tukinge

Etymology 3

Verb

token

1. simple past plural of taken

Alternative forms

• toke, tok, tokon, teken, takede
• tocken (early southwest Midlands)
• tocan (early)

Verb

token

1. Alternative form of taken: past participle of taken

Swedish

Noun

token

1. definite singular of tok

Anagrams

• keton