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electrode

UK/əˈlɛk.tɹəʊd/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,979 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: electrodes

An electrode is a conductor through which current enters or leaves. A carbon electrode.

There are always two, since current has to have a way in and a way out. The word was coined by Faraday from Greek for amber and a way.

Unknown · Public domain

Definitions of electrode

  1. 1nounelectrodeA conductor through which current enters or leaves.C2

    “The electrode had to be replaced about once a fortnight.”

electrode is a conductor.

Remember it

The Greek parts are amber and a road: amber was the first thing anybody knew that would hold a charge. An electrode is the road the current takes.

hooks ontoamberroad

Where it comes from

Coined by Michael Faraday in 1833 from Greek elektron, amber, plus hodos, a way.

  1. Ancient Greek

    ᾠδή — song

  2. Latin

    ōda

  3. Middle French

    ode

  4. English

    ode

  5. English, today

    electrode

coined by Q8750 in 1833, first used in his Diary (laboratory notebook) from the Ancient Greek - words ἤλεκτρον (“amber”) (from which the word electricity is derived) and ὁδός (“way”). by surface analysis, electro- + -ode ode comes from Middle French ode, from Latin ōda, from Ancient Greek ᾠδή (“song”). a doublet of Aoede.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

electrode in the wild

  • An electrode may be called either a cathode or anode according to the direction of the electric current, unrelated to the potential difference between electrodes.

    Electrode

  • The pH of aqueous solutions can be measured with a glass electrode and a pH meter or a color-changing indicator.

    PH

  • The standard electrode potential is a conventional instance of this concept whose reference electrode is the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE), defined to have a potential of zero volts.

    Electrode potential

  • In a conventional 12-lead ECG, ten electrodes are placed on the patient's limbs and on the surface of the chest.

    Electrocardiography

  • The central electrode, which may contain a resistor, is connected by a heavily insulated wire to the output terminal of an ignition coil or magneto.

    Spark plug

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.