How was the word transistor formed from the words transfer and resistor?

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The term transistor was coined in May 1948 by John Robinson Pierce, an electrical engineer at Bell Labs who was also a science-fiction author. The name is a portmanteau—a linguistic blend—derived from the words transfer and resistor.1

This name reflects the device's function as a solid-state component that transfers an input signal across a material with varying resistance to control or amplify electrical current.21