transparent

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin trānspārēns, trānspārēntis (“transparent”), present participle of transpareō, from Latin trans + pareō. Displaced native Old English þurhsīene.

adj

1. (of a material or object) See-through, clear; having the property that light passes through it almost undisturbed, such that one can see through it clearly.
   The waters of the lake were transparent until the factory dumped waste there.
   1. (graphic design) Of a graphical image or animated GIF, having parts that allow the background to show through.
2. (of a system or organization) Open, public; having the property that theories and practices are publicly visible, thereby reducing the chance of corruption.
3. Obvious; readily apparent; easy to see or understand.
   His reasons for the decision were transparent.
   I love playing poker with Steve, because he's so transparent.
4. (signal processing) Having the property of transparency, i.e. sufficiently accurate that the compressed result is perceptually indistinguishable from the uncompressed input.
5. (computing) Not noticeable because it happens automatically or in the background; invisible.
   In order to make that transparent to the user, browsers usually cache the usernames and passwords and retransmit them automatically each time they contact the server. 2003, Rolf Oppliger, Security Technologies for the World Wide Web, page 34