Abstract:

In modern Chinese, electricity corresponds to the terms of “电” and “电学”. From its initial introduction to being completely accepted, there was a process of accepting its different attributes, such as “amber”, “lightning” and “ubiquity”. At the same time, it had undergone several times of translation evolution and determination of terms like “琥珀气(amber gas)” “雷气 (thunder gas)” “阴阳气(air of Yin and Yang)” “电气(lightning gas) ”, and the term “电气” had the greatest impact. In this process, it was also found that in ancient Chinese, “电(dian)” had the tendencies of exploring the causes and origins of “sky lightning” as a natural phenomenon. Only after the introduction of electricity, the meaning of “电” in ancient China was gradually expanded until it was replaced by the western connotation represented by electricity.

Key words: electricity, terminology, amber gas, lightning gas, thunder gas