Standard Lemma guide

electromagnet

noun · 2 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.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 L EH2 K T R OW0 M AE1 G N AH0 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A magnet which attracts metals only when electrically activated.

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 temporary magnet made by coiling wire around an iron core; when current flows in the coil the iron becomes a magnet

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: magnet

Narrower terms: magnetic head

History

Etymology

Etymology tree French électro-bor. Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron)bor. Latin ēlectrum Latin electro-bor. English electro- Old French magnetebor. Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek Μάγνης (Mágnēs) Ancient Greek μᾰ́γνης (mắgnēs)bor. Latin magnēsbor. Middle English magnete English magnet English electromagnet From electro- + magnet.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 電磁體 /电磁体 — magnet
  • Chinese Mandarin: 電磁鐵 /电磁铁 (diàncítiě) — magnet
  • Czech: elektromagnet — magnet
  • Danish: elektromagnet — magnet
  • Dutch: elektromagneet — magnet
  • Esperanto: elektromagneto — magnet
  • Finnish: sähkömagneetti — magnet
  • French: électro-aimant — magnet
  • German: Elektromagnet — magnet
  • Greek: ηλεκτρομαγνήτης (ilektromagnítis) — magnet
  • Hindi: वैद्युतचुंबक (vaidyutcumbak) — magnet
  • Hindi: विद्युत् चुंबक (vidyut cumbak) — magnet
  • Icelandic: rafsegull — magnet
  • Irish: leictreamaighnéad — magnet
  • Italian: elettromagnete — magnet
  • Italian: elettrocalamita — magnet
  • Japanese: 電磁石 — magnet
  • Korean: 전자석 (jeonjaseok) — magnet
  • Macedonian: електрома́гнет (elektromágnet) — magnet
  • Māori: autōhiko — magnet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: elektromagnet — magnet
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: elektromagnet — magnet
  • Portuguese: eletroímã — magnet
  • Portuguese: eletroíman — magnet
  • Russian: электромагни́т (elektromagnít) — magnet
  • Serbo-Croatian: електрома̀гне̄т — magnet
  • Serbo-Croatian: elektromàgnēt — magnet
  • Spanish: electroimán — magnet
  • Swedish: elektromagnet — magnet
  • Tagalog: dagitabalani — magnet
  • Thai: แม่เหล็กไฟฟ้า (mɛ̂ɛ-lèk-fai-fáa) — magnet
  • Urdu: برقناطیس (barqnatees) — magnet