Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Solenoid
/ˈsəʊlɪnɔɪd/noun
A coil of wire wound in a cylinder that produces a magnetic field when current flows, often used to drive a movable core.
The Greek roots
σωλήν
sōlḗn
pipe, channel
εἶδος
eîdos
form, shape
Literally: “pipe-shaped thing”
The story of the word
André-Marie Ampère named it in the 1820s while working out how coiled current mimics a bar magnet, taking the Greek word for a pipe because the winding encloses a hollow tube. The same σωλήν names the razor clam, Solen, for its tubular shell. Every car starter, door lock and washing-machine valve you have ever heard clunk was a solenoid pulling its core.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
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In a sentence
The solenoid clicked twice and the valve stayed shut.
Field strength inside a long solenoid barely varies along its axis.