Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Electric
/ɪˈlɛktrɪk/adjective
Worked by or carrying electricity.
The Greek roots
ἤλεκτρον
ḗlektron
amber
Literally: “of amber”
Follow a root:ἤλεκτρον14 words
The story of the word
William Gilbert, physician to Elizabeth I, coined New Latin electricus in De Magnete in 1600 for substances that pull at straw once rubbed, the way amber does. The Greeks had noticed the effect without pursuing it, and Thales is credited with the observation. ἤλεκτρον named two pale yellow things: fossil resin, and an alloy of gold and silver.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → New Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1640s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
electronelectrodeelectrocuteelectrolysis
In a sentence
The whole house runs on electric heating now.
There was an electric silence in the hall before the verdict.