Diode

How to spell diode

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce diode

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does diode mean?

1. nounAn electronic component that allows current to flow in one direction only.

Diode in a sentence

• The engineer soldered a tiny diode onto the circuit board.

• A light-emitting diode glows when current passes through it in the correct direction.

Where does diode come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Diode is a twentieth-century coinage built from Greek roots. The first part, di-, means 'two', while the ending -ode comes from the older word 'electrode', which itself goes back to the Greek hodos, meaning 'way' or 'path'. The term was introduced around 1919 by the British physicist William Henry Eccles to describe a valve with two active elements through which current is given a single path to follow. The literal sense is therefore a 'two-path' or 'two-element' device, and that idea of two terminals is still exactly what defines a diode today. Because the word is assembled from clean Greek pieces, its spelling is regular: the trap is simply remembering the silent feel of the 'io' vowel run rather than any odd letters.

How the word is built

• di- (two)
• -ode (electrode element, from Greek hodos: way, path)