semiconductor

Etymology

It is formed from English semi- + conductor.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The prefix is from Latin semi- (“half”), from Proto-Indo-European *semi- (“half”).^[2] The base noun is from French conductour, from Latin conductor (“one who hires, contractor”), from conductus, the past participle of condūcō (“to lead or bring together”), formed from com- (“with, together”) and dūcō (“to lead”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A material whose capacity to conduct electricity lies between that of a good conductor and that of an insulator: 1838, in the Annals of Electricity, Magnetism, & Chemistry.^[3][5][7][2] The adjective semi-conducting is older, from 1782,^[2] and Dictionary.com dates the noun to only 1875–80.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Conductor itself had been used of electricity from 1737,^[2] and semiconductor at first described any intermediate material.^[4][3] The Proceedings of the Royal Society of 1931 has the specific modern sense: a solid with a narrow gap between its permitted energy bands, whose current carriers are thermally excited electrons.^[3][2] The older, looser sense then fell out of use.^[3] Dictionaries describe the modern class of material by its behaviour, a conductivity that is nearly absent at low temperatures and nearly as great as a metal's at high ones,^[7] or that results from impurities.^[4][8] The name has passed to the devices made of such material.^[8]

Timeline

• 1838 – a material of intermediate electrical conductivity.^[3][7][2]
• 1931 – a solid with a narrow gap between permitted energy bands.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crystalline solid such as germanium or silicon, whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and that of an insulator and increases with temperature or with impurities.^[7][8][9][4]
2. A device that depends on the properties of such a substance, such as a transistor or an integrated circuit.^[8]
3. (obsolete except in the sense above) Any material that conducts electricity moderately well.^[3][4]

Word family

• semiconducting

Related words

• conductor
• semi-
• conduct

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt