transpire

Transpire is a verb with several related meanings that share a core sense of emergence or passage. In its most common use, it is an intransitive verb meaning to occur or happen, often in a formal or literary register. It can also mean to come to light or become known, as in reports or discussions: “It transpired that the meeting had been cancelled.” In this sense, the phrasing is typically found in journalism or formal writing.

In a scientific or technical context, transpire describes the passage of moisture or vapor through a surface. In botany and plant physiology, transpiration is the process by which water absorbed by a plant is lost as water vapor from the leaves through stomata. The verb form can describe this moisture release, and the noun form “transpiration” names the process itself.

Etymology traces transpire to Latin transpirare, from trans- 'through' + spirare 'to breathe'. The word entered English in the early modern period, with the related noun transpiration forming in later scientific usage.

Usage notes and contrasts: the sense meaning “to occur” tends to appear in formal contexts, and in journalism the past tense “transpired” is a conventional way to report something that became known or revealed. For everyday talk about sweating, the more common verb is perspire; “transpire” can be used in archaic or technical contexts to describe moisture escaping through a surface or pores, but it is less typical for describing human sweating.

Overall, transpire carries both a temporal sense (events happening or revealing themselves) and a physical sense (moisture or vapor passing through a boundary), with the exact meaning determined by context.