Etymologically
Log in

anode

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word anode

Confidence
Established
Formation
Coinage
First attested
1834 William Whewell, letter of 25 April More words from the 19th century
From
Ancient Greek ἄνοδος
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἄνοδος

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈæn.əʊd/[1]
  • US: /ˈæn.oʊd/[1]

Etymology

It is a coinage from Ancient Greek ἄνοδος (ánodos, “way up”),[2][3][4][5][6] formed from ἀνά (aná, “up”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way”),[2][4][5][6] a word of uncertain origin.[3] William Whewell proposed it and Michael Faraday published it.[3][5][2] Klein and Barnhart credit its introduction to Faraday, Barnhart adding that he apparently did not coin it.[6][4] It contrasts with cathode, literally the way down.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The path by which an electric current leaves the positive pole and enters the electrolyte on its way to the negative pole, the strict sense as Faraday applied it: first recorded in a letter of Whewell of 25 April 1834.[2] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also give 1834.[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The name comes from the path that the current was thought to take from the positive pole,[3][4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged explains it from the belief that the current passes from east to west.[7] By 1866 it was used loosely for the positive pole itself.[2] It is now the positive terminal of an electrolytic cell but the negative terminal of a galvanic or primary cell,[7][8][9] and the current chemical definition is the electrode at which oxidation occurs.[7] With electron tubes it also came to name the electrode that collects electrons, called the plate especially in American use.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1834 – the path by which a current enters the electrolyte from the positive pole.[2][3][4]
  • 1866 – loosely, the positive pole.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The electrode of an electrochemical cell at which oxidation occurs.[7]
  2. The positive electrode or terminal of an electrolytic cell.[7][8][9]
  3. The negative terminal of a primary or galvanic cell, or of a battery that is supplying current.[7][8][9]
  4. The electrode of an electron tube that collects electrons; the plate.[7][8]

Word family

  • anodize
  • anodic
  • anodal

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Anode.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/anode. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·