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Glite Dictionary
🗺️ A three-state region 🌎 Involving three areas 💡 Three-way circuit
tristate

tristate

9.1
A circuit part that can send a high signal, a low signal, or no signal
  • noun
  • /ˈtraɪˌsteɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tristate
  • The engineer used a tristate buffer to control access to the data bus.

Examples

  • Modern microcontrollers often include tristate outputs for flexible signal management.

  • If the tristate is not set correctly, it can cause communication errors in the circuit.

  • The tristate output can be used in various applications.

  • Many microcontrollers feature a tristate bus.

  • The engineer used a tristate buffer to control access to the data bus.

  • If the tristate is not set correctly, it can cause communication errors in the circuit.

  • Modern microcontrollers often include tristate outputs for flexible signal management.

Surface Forms

tristate singular
tristates plural

Morphology

tristate = state (semi-transparent) = tri + state

Formally 'tri-' + 'state' (three states), but the electronic sense (high/low/high-impedance) is specialized technical jargon, so full understanding requires domain knowledge.

Etymology

Tristate comes from tri- 'three' and state 'condition'. In electronics it means a part can be 'on', 'off', or 'disconnected', so it has three possible states.