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LED (Light Emitting Diode)

English translation: an led

13:08 Apr 19, 2007
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Electronics / Elect Eng / Linguistics
English term or phrase: LED (Light Emitting Diode)
maybe this is a silly question...
Context is a service manual for eletronic devices.
Would you write:
*an* LED blinks when...
or
*a* LED blinks when...

Google doesn't help that much as results are similar...

Thanks in advance
Chiara
Chiara Righele
Italy
Local time: 02:54
Selected answer:an led
Explanation:
Most (if not all) native English speakers pronounce this as "ELL EE DEE", and so we would refer to "an LED".

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Note added at 3 mins (2007-04-19 13:12:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Most definitely LED, not led - sorry

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2007-04-19 13:13:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Anyway, couldn't you just avoid the issue by saying "the LED blinks"?
Selected response from:

Marie-Hélène Hayles
Local time: 02:54
Grading comment
Thanks for your validation - I thought the same.
In any case, I just got round the problem by saying "each LED" (which worked in my sentence), but I was curious and wanted to clear my doubt.
Thanks you all!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +11an led
Marie-Hélène Hayles
3"a light emitting diode"
Gliron (X)


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
led (light emitting diode)
"a light emitting diode"


Explanation:
This solution could resolve the problem...

Gliron (X)
France
Local time: 02:54
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
Notes to answerer
Asker: Well... yes, but won't clear my doubt :-) Thanks anyway

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +11
led (light emitting diode)
an led


Explanation:
Most (if not all) native English speakers pronounce this as "ELL EE DEE", and so we would refer to "an LED".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2007-04-19 13:12:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Most definitely LED, not led - sorry

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2007-04-19 13:13:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Anyway, couldn't you just avoid the issue by saying "the LED blinks"?

Marie-Hélène Hayles
Local time: 02:54
Native speaker of: English
Grading comment
Thanks for your validation - I thought the same.
In any case, I just got round the problem by saying "each LED" (which worked in my sentence), but I was curious and wanted to clear my doubt.
Thanks you all!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mihailolja
1 min
agree  Jack Doughty
2 mins
agree  Alison Jenner
4 mins
agree  Dr. Andrew Frankland
5 mins
agree  R. Alex Jenkins: an LED (in capitals)
6 mins
agree  kmtext: an LED, but a light emitting diode.
6 mins
agree  Janet Ratziu: Yes, "an" is written before a vowel sound, even if it's written as a consonant (from Swan's English Usage)
11 mins
agree  Ken Cox: or 'a blinking LED indicates...', depending on the context
13 mins
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
5 hrs
agree  Sophia Finos (X)
6 hrs
agree  Tony M: There was a time back in the early days when we'd have said 'a led', but now it is universally pronounced LED, and so 'an' is the only thing that sounds natural
9 hrs
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