English
cathode
Cathode comes from Ancient Greek ὁδός ‘journey, way’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὁδόςhodós‘journey, way’
- Englishtodaycathode
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὁδόςhodós‘journey, way’
- Englishtodaycathode
The story
Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
set, president, size, sell, sit, sitting, session, chair, seat, settle, resident, assess, nest, possess, siege, niche, saddle, subsidy, sedan, residue, residual, reside, sediment, nye, insidious, beset, prasad, soot, setter, sedentary, dissident, obsess, sedative, chaise, presidio, sedate, sessile, presidium, seance, salo, 93 more
through Ancient Greek ὁδός ‘journey, way’
Today it means
noun An electrode, of a cell or other electrically polarized device, through which a positive current of electricity flows outwards (and thus, electrons flow inwards). It can have either a negative or a positive voltage with respect to anode of the same polarized device (depending on whether the device is a load or a source, respectively).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek ὁδός / cathode