# volatile
## English
### Etymology

From Middle French volatile, from Latin volātilis (“flying; swift; temporary; volatile”), from volō (“I fly”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈvɒl.əˌtaɪ.(ə)l/
** Audio (UK):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈvɑ.lə.təl/, [ˈvɑ.lə.tl̩], [ˈvɑ.lə.ɾɫ̩]

### Adjective

volatile (comparative more volatile, superlative most volatile)
* (physics) Evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions.
* (of a substance, informal) Explosive.
* (of a price etc) Variable or erratic.
* (of a person) Quick to become angry or violent.
    a volatile man
* Fickle.
* Temporary or ephemeral.
* (of a situation) Potentially violent.
* (programming, of a variable etc.) Having its associated memory immediately updated with any changes in value.
** 2010, Jon Jagger, Nigel Perry, Peter Sestoft, Annotated C# Standard, page 467:This method stores a value into a non-volatile field called result, then stores true in the volatile field finished. The main thread waits for the field finished to be set to true, then reads the field result.
* (computing, of memory) Whose content is lost when the computer is powered down.
* (obsolete) Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly.
(Can we add an example for this sense?)

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:ephemeral

#### Derived terms

* nonvolatile
* sal volatile
* unvolatile
* volatilely
* volatile memory
* volatile organic compound
* volatility

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

volatile (plural volatiles)
* A chemical or compound that changes into a gas easily.
* (programming) A variable that is volatile, i.e. has its associated memory immediately updated with any change in value.
** 2011, Victor Pankratius, Ali-Reza Adl-Tabatabai, Walter Tichy, Fundamentals of Multicore Software Development, page 74:Operations on C++ volatiles do put the compiler on notice that the object may be modified asynchronously, and hence are generally safer to use than ordinary variable accesses.

## French
### Etymology

Compare volaille.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /vɔ.la.til/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

volatile
* feminine singular of volatil

### Noun

volatile m (plural volatiles)
* fowl, bird

### Further reading

* “volatile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## German
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

volatile
* inflection of volatil:
** strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
** strong nominative/accusative plural
** weak nominative all-gender singular
** weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

## Italian
### Etymology

From Latin volātilis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /voˈla.ti.le/
* Rhymes: -atile
* Hyphenation: vo‧là‧ti‧le

### Adjective

volatile (plural volatili)
* (chemistry, physics) volatile
* flying
    Synonym: volante

### Noun

volatile m (plural volatili)
* bird, fowl
    Synonym: uccello
* (vulgar) penis

### Further reading

* volatile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /u̯oˈlaː.ti.le/, [u̯ɔˈɫ̪äːt̪ɪɫ̪ɛ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /voˈla.ti.le/, [voˈläːt̪ile]

### Adjective

volātile
* nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of volātilis

### References

* volatile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)