Etymology of electricity

The word electricity comes from Neo-Latin and finally from ancient Greek. It was first used in English by the famous scientist Francis Bacon in his writings. When we talk about electricity, we might mean electric charge, electric power, or electric energy, depending on what we are discussing. Understanding where this word comes from helps us see how people long ago began to explore and name the forces around them.

Historical drift

Pre-English origins

The word electric comes from a Neo-Latin word meaning "of amber". It was first used to describe the special properties of amber by a scientist named William Gilbert in 1600. The word comes from an old Latin word for amber, which itself came from a Greek word. No one really knows where the Greek word came from, but some think it might have been from an old Phoenician word meaning "shining light".

Entry into English

The word electricity was first used in English by a man named Sir Thomas Browne in 1646. He used it to describe how certain materials, like amber, could attract other objects. At that time, "electricity" just meant the ability to attract light objects, like bits of paper, when rubbed. It wasn't until later that the word started to mean the actual cause of this attraction.

The word charge, when talking about electricity, was first used in 1748.

Electrism

In some old books, the words electrism and electricity were used to mean the same thing. One book from 1890 suggested using electricity to talk about the force and electrism to talk about the study of it.

"Quantity of electricity"

The term quantity of electricity was used a lot in old science books. Famous scientists like Franklin, Faraday, Maxwell, Millikan, and J. J. Thomson wrote about it. Even Einstein sometimes used this phrase.

But today, people and companies that provide electricity usually talk about electricity in a different way. They don’t use it to mean just electric charge anymore. Now, most books and experts talk about electricity as electromagnetic energy. Some even use the word electricity to mean electric current, energy flow, electrical potential, or electric force. Because the word electricity has so many meanings now, scientists stopped using quantity of electricity. They prefer to use the word charge instead, which is clearer and avoids confusion.