semiconductor
sem·i·con·duc·tor/ˌsɛmikənˈdʌktɚ/noun
semiconductor is a noun meaning “A substance with electrical properties intermediate between a good conductor and a good insulator” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-E-M-I-C-O-N-D-U-C-T-O-R and has 5 syllables (sem·i·con·duc·tor), and it appears 3.4 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of semiconductor is semiconductors.
What does semiconductor mean?
noun
- 1
A substance with electrical properties intermediate between a good conductor and a good insulator.
Holonyms: chip, microchip, integrated circuit
- 2
Ellipsis of semiconductor device.
Near-synonyms: chip, microchip, integrated circuit
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce semiconductor?
- UK /ˌsɛmikənˈdʌktə/
- US /ˌsɛmikənˈdʌktɚ/
- Australia /ˌsemikənˈdɐktə/
Semiconductor has 5 syllables, split sem·i·con·duc·tor in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-PRB-semiconductor.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of semiconductor
- semiconductors plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is semiconductor?
Semiconductor appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Semiconductor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense substance with electrical properties between conductor and insulator:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | semiconducteur |
| German | Halbleiter |
| Portuguese | semicondutor |
| Spanish | semiconductor |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does semiconductor come from?
From semi- + conductor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).