IEC launches Electropedia free online vocabulary database

Known as Electropedia, this website, www.electropedia.org, makes it significantly easier to find an internationally-agreed electrical, electronic or related technology term, together with its definition in English and French, or you can search for an equivalent term in Spanish or German (when and where these exist). Terms in other languages (Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Swedish) will be added at a later date.

Live since 2 April 2007, this website is quick and easy to use because it contains an entirely searchable database of terminology. Looking for a reference word this way is said to be a lot faster than thumbing through printed pages or scrolling through PDF files. In addition, the database will continue to be updated as technical language evolves - so new words will be added to existing parts, and further sections will be added as technology broadens into new areas.

In the past, those who needed standardised terminology bought an entire chapter of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary on a given subject such as electromagnetism, power capacitors or space radiocommunications. Now, the entire set of 20 000 entries, divided into 77 main subject areas, is becoming fully available at no cost to serve as a free online resource on an easily accessible website for anyone who needs it.

Track record in terminology

Because the IEC itself was created partly in response to a need for terminology that was standardised, the IEV database lies at the very heart of what the Commission does and has been doing for more than 100 years. Indeed, the first technical committee created by the IEC in 1910 was, and remains, TC 1 (Terminology).

While industry is the biggest user of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary, governments, academia and test labs are also major users and so they, too, will benefit from this online terminology website.

Speaking from the IEC central office in Geneva, Jonathan Buck, Director of Marketing and Communications, says: "Dictionaries are reference works that need to be used. We feel that, as pioneers in the area of standardised electrotechnical vocabulary, making the IEV database available online is one way we have of reaching out to the widest possible audience. That does not just include the specialists, but also the engineers of tomorrow, those still studying in schools and colleges".

The Electropedia is the latest addition to the IEC online databases, namely:

• IEC 60417 / ISO 7000, Graphical symbols for use on equipment
• IEC 60617, Graphical symbols for use in electrotechnical diagrams
• IEC 60061, Lamp caps and holders together with gauges for the control of interchangeability and safety