33 fields
All fields
Each field is a self-contained glossary with its own phrasebook, starter list and FAQ. Together they hold 3,521 terms.
Materials & Surfaces
Tribology & Lubrication
Friction, wear and the thin films of oil and grease that keep metal apart.
Corrosion & Cathodic Protection
Rust, the electrochemistry behind it, and the crews who keep steel from turning to ore.
Heat Treating
The language of furnaces, quench tanks and the microstructures they make.
Thermal Spray
The language of plasma guns, grit, splats and the coatings they build.
Powder Coating
The language of charged powder, washer chemistry and the oven that makes it stick.
Adhesives
The language of tack, cure and the thin layer that holds things together.
Refractories & Furnace Linings
The bricks, castables and fiber that hold back molten steel, glass and clinker.
Making & Joining
Welding, Brazing & NDE
The language of arcs, puddles, roots and the inspectors who shoot them.
Fasteners & Threads
Bolts, nuts, threads and the preload that keeps a joint from walking apart.
Gear Engineering
Teeth, mesh and the language of the people who cut, check and fix gearboxes.
Valves & Fittings
The words for what opens, shuts, throttles and leaks in a pipe.
Machine Shop Slang
Thous, tenths, chooch and chatter: how machinists and fabricators really talk.
Power & Climate
Electrotechnology
The working words of power systems, protection, earthing and the grid control room.
Electricians' Slang
The jobsite slang of electricians: boxes, fittings, tools, bends and banter.
HVAC & Refrigeration
How techs and engineers talk about moving heat, air and moisture.
Boilers & Burners
Boiler room talk: fire, water, steam and the controls that keep them in line.
Nuclear Safety & Radiation Protection
The working vocabulary of reactor safety, dose and the radiation protection floor.
Light & Electronics
Lighting & Color Science
Lumens, kelvins and cue calls: the working words of light and color.
Photonics & Lasers
How laser builders, optics labs and fiber laser engineers really talk about light.
Fiber Optics
The talk of splicers, OTDR jockeys and the crews who pull, burn and shoot glass.
Printed Circuit Boards
The language of PCB design, fabrication, assembly and the lab bench.
Paper Optics & Testing
The words mills and labs use for how white, opaque and glossy a sheet really is.
Built Environment
Concrete & Cement
The language of mud, mix designs and the crews who place and finish it.
Asphalt Paving
Talk from the hot plant to the screed: binder grades, voids, rollers and rakers.
Geosynthetics
The working words of fabric, grid and liner in the ground, from spec sheet to seam log.
Sealants & Waterproofing
The language of joints, membranes and flashings that keep water out of buildings.
Nonwovens
How fibers become fabric without a loom, in the words of the people who run the lines.
Sea & Rail
Hydrography & Charting
The working language of the people who measure the seabed and make the chart.
Tides & Water Levels
How water level people and mariners talk about the rise and fall of the sea.
Railroading
The working talk of hoggers, car knockers and dispatchers on North American rails.
Measurement & Lab
Vacuum Engineering
The language of empty space: pumps, gauges, leaks and the people who chase them.
Engineering Statistics
The working words of control charts, capability, designed experiments and failure data.
Measurement Uncertainty
How metrologists talk about doubt: budgets, k factors, traceability and cal stickers.
Know a word we missed?
Every crew has its own vocabulary. Send us the term, what it means and how you hear it used.