Here I found this:
Definition: A determinant in a database table is any attribute that you can use to determine the values assigned to other attribute(s) in the same row.
Examples: Consider a table with the attributes employee_id, first_name, last_name and date_of_birth. In this case, the field employee_id determines the remaining three fields. The name fields do not determine the employee_id because the firm may have more than one employee with the same first and/or last name. Similarly, the DOB field does not determine the employee_id or the name fields because more than one employee may share the same birthday.
Isn't the definition applicable for candidate keys too?
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