VOOZH about

URL: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/extension-cord.3747824/

⇱ extension cord | WordReference Forums

Menu
Install the app
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.

extension cord

Status
Not open for further replies.
I would call it 'multi-plug extension cord'.
I call that a power bar.
I would call it 'multi-plug extension cord'.
But it only has plug. It should be multi-socket. 👁 Smile :)


Here these things are known as extension leads, extension cables, or extension cords, or even just extensions. In some of them, their main purpose is to provide multiple outlets, and their cord itself will be relatively short, but even when their main purpose is to give distance, and they come on a reel, most of them tend to have more than one outlet.

When I hear "power bar", I think of a high-energy protein snack.

An extension lead need not be for power. You can get extensions for loudspeakers, microphones, telephones, and ethernet, for example.
In the US
People call the yellow one a cable and the white one an extension cord
Regarding #12.

Extension cord on the left. Power strip on the right.

If the one on the right includes the ability to protect from power surges, it would generally be called a surge protector. It would also normally be a bit bigger, because the extra circuitry that defends against the power surges needs some space.
Last edited:
I can call both extension cables. And I might add 'with multiple sockets' for the one on the right.
It's the same thing.
It is and it isn't. Its key feature, absent in the original, is that its sockets accept a variety of styles of plug.
I might call it something like an adapter extension. In practice, depending on context, it may not be necessary to mention this feature, so often you could just call it whatever you call the one in the OP.
I'd call the items in sb's and Roymalika's pictures extension leads. If I wanted to be more specific, I'd call sb's a 6-way extension lead, and Roymalika's a 3-way extension lead.
In BE, can the thing in #18 simply be called "extension" or "lead"?
Where I live, some people call it "extension" and some people call it "lead".
I haven't heard "extension lead".
I'd call sb's a 6-way extension lead, and Roymalika's a 3-way extension lead.
You need to click on the images to get a full-size view. The key difference is just the number of ways. #18 is non-standard in that its sockets can mate with plugs from more than one species. Actually, I think even the one in #1 is non-standard. Although its sockets seem to be single-species, its plug is of a different species.
In BE, can the thing in #18 simply be called "extension" or "lead"?
Yes, I could call it "extension" or "extension lead", but would probably not call it just "lead".
It's "multiple socket extension cable". The first two words act as an adjective, and you need the singular "socket", even if you're referring to multiple ones.
It's "multiple socket extension cable". The first two words act as an adjective, and you need the singular "socket", even if you're referring to multiple ones.
If the first two words are something like an adjective, I think 'multiple-socket extention cable' or 'multiple-socket extention cord' would be better.
Perhaps you're right. But it's "extension", not "extention".
Perhaps you're right. But it's "extension", not "extention".
You're right. It was a typo. Sorry.
To me, 'extension cord' (as I call them in my version of AmE) is something with one male plug at one end and one female socket at the other. There are also splitters, with two sockets and one plug. Those two things can be combined to make a one-piece 'extension cord with splitter.' As regards power strips, to me the crucial thing is not the presence of the cord, but the arrangement whereby one can send power simultaneously into several sockets, and thence to several devices. So I call those things either a 'power strip' or 'a power strip with an extension cord' depending on whether they have an extenral cord or they plug right into the wall socket.
Do I need to add an apostrophe after the ending s of sockets?

I mean => multiple sockets' extension cable?
No, you don't: it's wrong to use an apostrophe. It's an extension cable with multiple sockets (sometimes we call them "multi-socket" especially the ones incorporating a phone connection as well as a mains power).
No, you don't: it's wrong to use an apostrophe. It's an extension cable with multiple sockets (sometimes we call them "multi-socket" especially the ones incorporating a phone connection as well as a mains power).
Am I right in saying that all the following names can be used for the thing in post #18?

- extension lead
- extension cable
- extension cord
- extension
- lead
- power strip
- cable
Am I right in saying that all the following names can be used for the thing in post #18?

- extension lead
- extension cable
- extension cord
- extension
- lead
- power strip
- cable
Not really.

Neither "lead" nor "cable" on their own convey the idea that the purpose of the thing is basically to make an existing lead longer. We don't use "cord" much in BE, although it's not wrong, and I wouldn't personally use "power strip" although somebody else I think said they thought it was okay.
Neither "lead" nor "cable" on their own convey the idea that the purpose of the thing is basically to make an existing lead longer
What are you referring to as an existing lead?
Thanks. But
Neither "lead" nor "cable" on their own convey the idea that the purpose of the thing is basically to make an existing lead longer.
I don't understand what you're saying here. What do you mean when you say "the purpose of this thing is to make an existing lead longer"? Can you please explain a bit?
Well, I'm sorry, but we're drifting well off-topic here: explaining what the purpose of those things is isn't altogether relevant to what they're called and it isn't any case a language question.
Not really.

Neither "lead" nor "cable" on their own convey the idea that the purpose of the thing is basically to make an existing lead longer. We don't use "cord" much in BE, although it's not wrong, and I wouldn't personally use "power strip" although somebody else I think said they thought it was okay.
So in that list only these are used in BE for the thing shown in #18?
- extension lead
- extension cable
- extension
Note that "extension lead" (or indeed a "lead" of any kind in this context) would mean nothing to most speakers of American English. I would also reject the answer given by sami in post #13, which I find bizarre and unfamiliar. In American English as I know it, and as Myridon saaid in post #15, the yellow item is a heavy-duty extension cord, and the white item is a power strip.
So in that list only these are used in BE for the thing shown in #18?
- extension lead
- extension cable
- extension
I thought I'd answered that in post #35, unless another speaker of BE wants to chip in. 👁 Wink ;)
This thread provides enough options.
It is now closed.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Cagey,
moderator
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom