Phrase guide

Geiger counter

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɡaɪɡə ˈkaʊntə/
  • US: /ˈɡaɪɡɚ ˈkaʊntɚ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A device designed to detect radioactivity and measure its intensity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Geiger-Müller counter

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a feature of an RFID reader that emits a sound indicating the signal strength of an RFID tag that is being searched for.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

Topics: business, commerce, retail

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

counter tube that detects ionizing radiations

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Geiger-Muller counter

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: counter tube

History

Etymology

Named after Hans Geiger who developed the first such device in 1908 together with Ernest Rutherford.

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عَدَّاد غَايْغَر (ʕaddād ḡayḡar) — device
  • Arabic: عَدَّاد جَايْجَر (ʕaddād gaygar) — device
  • Catalan: comptador Geiger — device
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蓋革計數器 /盖革计数器 (Gàigé jìshùqì) — device
  • Danish: geigertæller — device
  • Finnish: geigermittari — device
  • French: compteur Geiger — device
  • German: Geigerzähler — device
  • Hebrew: מונה גייגר (moné gáyger) — device
  • Hindi: गाइगर काउन्टर (gāigar kāunṭar) — device
  • Hungarian: Geiger–Müller-számláló — device
  • Italian: contatore Geiger — device
  • Japanese: ガイガー計数管 (Gaigā-keisūkan) — device
  • Japanese: ガイガーカウンター (Gaigā kauntā) — device
  • Korean: 가이거 계수기 (Gaigeo gyesugi) — device
  • Norwegian Bokmål: geigerteller — device
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: geigerteljar — device
  • Polish: licznik Geigera — device
  • Polish: licznik Geigera-Müllera — device
  • Portuguese: contador Geiger — device
  • Romanian: detector-Geiger — device
  • Romanian: contor Geiger — device
  • Russian: счётчик Ге́йгера (sčótčik Géjgera) — device
  • Spanish: contador Geiger (gáiguer) — device
  • Spanish: contador de Geiger (gáiguer) — device
  • Spanish: medidor de radiación — device
  • Swedish: geigermätare — device
  • Tagalog: pamilang-gayger — device
  • Ukrainian: лічильник Ге́йгера (ličylʹnyk Héjhera) — device
  • Ukrainian: лічильник Ґе́йґера (ličylʹnyk Géjgera) — device