heatsink
n.n. a piece of metal used to pull heat away from a computer part so it stays cool. It usually has many thin metal fins to help the heat escape into the air.
n. a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant. Typically constructed from high-conductivity metals like aluminium or copper and designed with a large surface area to volume ratio.
The computer processor needs a large heatsink to prevent it from overheating.
After upgrading the graphics card, he noticed the new heatsink was much larger than the previous one to handle the increased power.
Efficient thermal management in modern high-performance computing relies heavily on the contact quality between the processor die and the heatsink, often mediated by a thin layer of thermal paste.
A compound of the English nouns heat and sink. The term adapts the general scientific concept of a thermal sink, a reservoir that absorbs energy without a significant increase in its own temperature.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often used as a compound noun; can also be written as two words ('heat sink') depending on the style guide.
Last updated July 22, 2026