Thyristor

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A semiconductor diode having an extra "gate" terminal to switch it on.

    "In calling it a "Thyristor", Mr. Warder was following a growing practice which takes account of the fact that in years to come the controlled rectifier may be made of other materials than silicon."

Example

More examples

"In calling it a "Thyristor", Mr. Warder was following a growing practice which takes account of the fact that in years to come the controlled rectifier may be made of other materials than silicon."

Etymology

Blend of thyratron (1930) + transistor (1947). First attested c. 1965, as an alternative name for the Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) developed in the late 1950s.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.