For electrical power cords, technicians refer to the ends as male and female. The male being the plug and the female being the receptacle or socket.
Almost every electronic device that you use in your home or office or anywhere for that matter, have ends that come in male and female components. I bet you’re a little confused as to what that means. This standard design ensures that one end fits only with the opposite gender, helping to regulate cables for power and digital signals.
The male differs from the female in that it has one or more projecting pins designed as a live contact, a neutral contact, and an optional earth (ground) contact, separated by a plastic insulator. The female has one or more sockets just big enough to accept the male pins and provides a connection point that delivers electricity once the plug is placed into it. Males can also have 2-3 conductors (pins) and females also, can have 2-3 holes (sockets).
The images below show an IEC connector that refers to the power supply inlet which is commonly seen on desktop PC power supplies.
C14 (male) power inlet, the gender of the end is defined by the pins within the hood – either 2 or 3 conductors
C13 (female) end is defined by the openings displayed on the front – either 2 or 3 holes
For your standard IEC power cords, what helped me to remember which end is which, I think about how males are Even numbers, such as the C14 above. And the female end is an Odd number, just like the C13 below.
For the standard North American cords, such as our 5315 series, this demonstrates the NEMA 5-15P to the NEMA 5-15R – P meaning PLUG and R meaning RECEPTACLE.
- Tip: if it has Pins, it’s a Plug
