Transcendental curve

In mathematics, a transcendental curve is a curve that is not an algebraic curve. Here for a curve, C, what matters is the point set (typically in the plane) underlying C, not a given parametrisation. For example, the unit circle is an algebraic curve (pedantically, the real points of such a curve); the usual parametrisation by trigonometric functions may involve those transcendental functions, but certainly the unit circle is defined by a polynomial equation. (The same remark applies to elliptic curves and elliptic functions; and in fact to curves of genus > 1 and automorphic functions.)