Electronics Terminology Glossary
A Small British-to-American Electronics Terminology Glossary
This short glossary of electronics-related British terms may assist Americans reading documents written in Great Britain.Electronics-Related Terms
| British Term | American Meaning | Examples/Further Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| Accumulator | Storage battery | Rechargeable batteries such as car batteries, cell phone batteries, etc. |
| Aerial | Antenna | In American usage, aerial more often refers to elevated power lines. |
| Bush | Bushing | Tuning shaft bushing, volume control bushing, etc. |
| Decoupling | A filter used to prevent feedback coupling | A filter used to prevent oscillation or to avoid undesirable frequency or phase response effects of feedback |
| Earth | Ground | Antenna ground, lightning protection ground, equipment safety ground |
| E.H.T | Extra high tension (Very high voltage) | Cathode ray tube plate supply voltage, x-ray tube anode supply voltage, voltage generated by a Tesla Coil |
| Former | Coil form | |
| Four-Pole | A four-terminal passive network | A four-terminal balanced resistive audio line attenuator (pad), a four-terminal balanced lowpass, highpass, bandpass, band reject, or notch filter |
| Gramophone | Phonograph | |
| H.T. | High tension (high voltage) | Vacuum tube plate supply voltage, high voltage power lines |
| Long-Wave band | 900 to 2,000 meters | The lowest-frequency British AM broadcast band which extends from 150 to 333 kHz |
| L.T. | Low tension (low voltage) | Most transistor voltages, vacuum tube filament voltages, car battery voltage, flashlight battery voltage, and similar low voltages |
| Mains | The main utility power circuit into a house or other structure | Electric service drop |
| Medium-Wave band | 200 to 500 Meters | The British AM broadcast band that extends from 531 to 1,602 kHz with 9 kHz channel spacings |
| Relay | Distribution of radio or TV programs from a master receiver or a broadcast studio to homes and apartments via cables | Cable television, cable radio |
| Screening | Shielding | Aluminum, copper or other conductor shielding around IF transformers, between amplifier stages, around an antenna tuner, etc. |
| Shroud | A strap used to hold transformer laminations | |
| Speech coil | Loud speaker voice coil | |
| Tag | Lug | Solder lug |
| Torch | Flashlight | |
| Valve | Vacuum tube | |
| Valve holder | Vacuum tube socket |
| Unit of Measure | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unit | British Meaning | American Meaning |
| Billion | 1 x 1012 | 1 x 109 |
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