electronic

The word “electronic” means relating to electrons or the devices that control their flow, such as computers, phones, and circuit boards. In plain terms, relating to circuits, computer chips, or anything run by controlling electric signals — or, more loosely, anything done digitally instead of on paper.

“Electronic” is pronounced ehl-ehk-TRON-ihk (/ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɑ.nɪk/ in IPA).

Here is “electronic” used in a sentence: “The repair shop fixes electronic devices like laptops and game consoles.”

“Electronic” is an adjective.

“Electronic” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Electronic” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: relating to electrons or the devices that control their flow, such as computers, phones, and circuit boards.

Electric describes things that run on or carry electricity, like an electric kettle or a power cable. Electronic describes devices that actively control the flow of electrons through components such as transistors and microchips to process signals or information. In short, electric things use power, while electronic things use that power to compute, sense, or communicate.

Everyday examples include smartphones, laptops, televisions, games consoles, and digital cameras. Each relies on circuit boards and tiny semiconductor components to process information. Even household items like microwaves and washing machines contain electronic controllers. Essentially, any gadget with a chip inside that handles signals or logic counts as electronic.

Not quite. Electronic refers to the physical technology, the circuits and components that manage electrons. Digital refers to how information is represented, as discrete values such as ones and zeros. Most modern digital devices are electronic, but electronics can also be analogue, handling continuously varying signals rather than digital data.