audion

audion — noun

1. an early type of vacuum tube with three electrodes inside, used in the first rad

1.nounC2
Definition

an early type of vacuum tube with three electrodes inside, used in the first radios to make weak signals stronger

Example

Emiko found an old audion inside her grandfather's wooden radio cabinet.

The audion made it possible to hear voices across the Atlantic for the first time.

pattern: made it possible to + verb for historical impact

Common collocations
  • audion tube
  • audion amplifier
  • audion detector
  • audion circuit
Synonyms
  • triode

    the generic technical term for any three-electrode vacuum tube; 'audion' is the original trade name

  • vacuum tube

    broader category that also includes diodes, tetrodes, and pentodes

  • valve

    British English equivalent of vacuum tube, used across all types

Usage Note

Historical term; refers specifically to Lee De Forest's original three-electrode design from 1906, not to later vacuum tubes in general.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

The audion is the original three-electrode vacuum tube, invented and trademarked by Lee De Forest in 1906. The word triode is the generic scientific term for any tube with three electrodes — all audions are triodes, but not all triodes are audions. Vacuum tube is the broadest category, covering diodes (two electrodes), triodes (three), tetrodes (four), and pentodes (five). In British English, all of these are called valves, a term that emphasizes their function of controlling current flow like a water valve. When reading early radio history, 'audion' specifically means De Forest's device; in modern electronics, use 'triode' for the general concept.

triodevacuum tubevalve ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • audion tube
  • audion circuit

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Coined in 1906 by American inventor Lee De Forest, who combined the Latin word audio ('I hear') with the suffix -on (following the pattern of existing scientific terms like electron and ion). De Forest chose the name to reflect the device's revolutionary ability to amplify sound in early radio.

First known use

1907

1907, in the meaning defined above