Glossary
Electrician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential electrician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key electrician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in electrician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- AFCI
- Arc-fault circuit interrupter: detects dangerous arcing and trips the circuit.
- Arc flash
- A dangerous release of energy from an electrical fault, causing burns and blast injuries.
- Bonding
- Connecting metal parts together so they stay at the same electrical potential.
- Current (A)
- The flow of electric charge, measured in amperes.
- EMT conduit
- Electrical metallic tubing: thin-wall steel conduit that protects wires.
- GFCI
- Ground-fault circuit interrupter: shuts off power when it detects current leaking to ground.
- Grounding
- Connecting electrical systems to the earth to stabilize voltage and provide a fault path.
- Load calculation
- Determining the total electrical demand to size services and feeders.
- Lockout/tagout (LOTO)
- Procedures to isolate energy sources and prevent equipment from being energized during work.
- NEC
- The National Electrical Code (NFPA 70), the standard for safe electrical installation adopted by most U.S. jurisdictions.
- Ohm’s law
- Voltage equals current times resistance (V = I × R).
- Panelboard
- The enclosure that holds breakers and distributes power to branch circuits.
- Resistance (Ω)
- Opposition to current flow, measured in ohms.
- Three-phase power
- A power system with three alternating currents, common in commercial and industrial settings.
- Voltage (V)
- Electrical pressure that pushes current through a circuit.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Electrician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Electrician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.