noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
UK:/əˈlɛk.tɹəʊd/
UK:/iˈlɛk.tɹəʊd/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:IH2 L EH1 K T R OW0 D
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The terminal through which electric current passes between metallic and nonmetallic parts of an electric circuit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A collector or emitter of electric charge in a semiconducting device.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
a conductor used to make electrical contact with some part of a circuit
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: conductor
Narrower terms: anode, base, cathode, collector, electron gun, emitter, grid, control grid
History
Etymology
Coined by British scientist Michael Faraday in 1833, first used in his Diary (laboratory notebook) from the Ancient Greek words ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”) (from which the word electricity is derived) and ὁδός (hodós, “way”). By surface analysis, electro- + -ode
Across languages
Translations
70 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
elektrodë
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Arabic:
إِلِكْتْرُود
(ʔiliktrūd)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Armenian:
էլեկտրոդ
(ēlektrod)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Asturian:
electrodu
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Azerbaijani:
elektrod
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Basque:
elektrodo
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Belarusian:
электро́д
(eljektród)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Bulgarian:
електро́д
(elektród)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Catalan:
elèctrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Chinese Mandarin:
電極 /电极
(diànjí)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Czech:
elektroda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Danish:
elektrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Dutch:
elektrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Esperanto:
elektrodo
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Estonian:
elektrood
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Faroese:
ravkleiv
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Faroese:
kleiv
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Faroese:
elektroda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Finnish:
elektrodi
— the terminal through which electric current passes
French:
électrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Georgian:
ელექტროდი
(elekṭrodi)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
German:
Elektrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Greek:
ηλεκτρόδιο
(ilektródio)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Gujarati:
વીજધ્રુવ
(vījadhruv)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Hawaiian:
ʻūholo uila
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Hebrew:
אֶלֶקְטְרוֹדָה
(elektróda)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Hindi:
विद्युदग्र
(vidyudagra)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Hindi:
इलेक्ट्रोड
(ilekṭroḍ)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Hindi:
इलैक्ट्रोड
(ilaikṭroḍ)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Hungarian:
elektróda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Icelandic:
rafskaut
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Icelandic:
skaut
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Icelandic:
rafpóll
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Icelandic:
rafnemi
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Italian:
elettrodo
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Japanese:
電極
(denkyoku)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Kazakh:
электрод
(élektrod)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Khmer:
អសនីបថ
(ʼaʼsaʼniibɑt)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Khmer:
អេឡិចត្រូត
(ʼeeləctrout)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Korean:
전극
(jeon'geuk)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Kyrgyz:
электрод
(elektrod)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Latvian:
elektrods
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Lithuanian:
elektrodas
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Macedonian:
електро́да
(elektróda)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Malay:
elektrod
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Manx:
lectroyd
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Māori:
pitohiko
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Māori:
tia kawehiko
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Norwegian Bokmål:
elektrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Norwegian Nynorsk:
elektrode
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Polish:
elektroda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Portuguese:
eletrodo
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Romanian:
electrod
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Russian:
электро́д
(elektród)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Serbo-Croatian:
електро́да
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Serbo-Croatian:
elektróda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Slovak:
elektróda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Slovene:
elektroda
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Spanish:
electrodo
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Swahili:
elektrodi
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Swedish:
elektrod
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Tagalog:
dagindas
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Tajik:
электрод
(elektrod)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Thai:
อิเล็กโทรด
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Thai:
ลวดเชื่อม
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Thai:
ขั้วเชื่อม
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Turkish:
elektrot
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Ukrainian:
електро́д
(elektród)
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Uzbek:
elektrod
— the terminal through which electric current passes
Vietnamese:
điện cực
— the terminal through which electric current passes
