Which is it: "ignitor" or "igniter"? Discuss.

JohnNY

Or are those terms and spellings simply interchangeable?

unclejohn

IGNITOR
IGNITOR is the Italian name for a nuclear research project of magnetic confinement fusion, developed by ENEA Laboratories in Frascati. Construction (in Russia) is not complete. The project theory is based on ignited plasma in tokamak.

Wikipedia

[iɡˈnīdər]
NOUN
igniters (plural noun)

1] a device for igniting a fuel mixture in an engine.
2] a device for causing an electric arc.

Wikipeda had no definition for igniter.

STEVEusaPA

Are you talking about gas or oil? For oil I say igniter. Spell check seems to dislike ignitor.
Are ya snowed in today @JohnNY ? 4th Bore'Easter for us in the Philly area. Started at 5:30, dug out my house, my fathers house, just finished the shop...now I have to go to work. Snow...grrr

delta T

I feel igniter is correct. Compare to other examples such as lighter, chopper, fryer, opener, seller, mulcher etc.....

Not a linguistics expert by any means, but usually there are patterns for such things. Though in English the exceptions usually outnumber the rule so......

manufacturers can't even agree with themselves! Its both ways on the same page

https://customer.honeywell.com/en-US/Pages/Department.aspx?cat=HonECC+Catalog&category=Igniters+and+Sensors&catpath=1.1.30

Ironman

"You say tomato, is say "tomatto"...

SuperTech

For what it's worth I always spelled it as ignitor. Spell check always changes it to igniter. I believe both spellings represent the same thing, wether it's a hot surface ignitor or an electric igniter for an oil burner. Either way it's a device that that produces ignition.

I've always wondered about this subject myself.

Ironman

It's kinda like this: I work a lot in Staunton [pronounced STAN ton] VA, but my father's sister is my aunt [pronounced AWEnt]. That's the way it's pronounced around here. But folks that aren't from here pronounce the two words the exact opposite.

I spell it ignitor, but I'm also a contractOR.

RayWohlfarth

I believe Ignitor is the person who does the igniting and Igniter is the object which does the igniting. So unless you are replacing the person who lights the boiler you should use the "or" Just my opinion

MikeG

Websters has it both ways as a noun. Then it also has ignitible and ignitable although the first spelling shows a misspelling on this site.

Harvey Ramer

I would think the correct spelling would be "Igniter". The magic "e", serving to turn "i" into a "Long Vowel".

Not saying I always spell it that way, though.

HomerJSmith

What really counts is that the person you are talking with understands what you are referring to. Notice I ended my sentence with a preposition or was it a proposition? This language thing is so complicated.

the_donut

Or for person doing a task, er for device, but it is English. We don’t have farmors and we do have harbors.

hvacfreak2

I think it's something like Robertshaw = ignitor , Honeywell = igniter or vice - versa.

EBEBRATT-Ed

spark plug

the_donut

Along the same lines: inflammable and flammable.

neilc

i don't think either the ignitor, or inighter, will work on the unflamable.

ChrisJ

As long as people know what you mean I don't think it matters. Don't people in your area eat with a fawk?

STEVEusaPA

ChrisJ said:

As long as people know what you mean I don't think it matters. Don't people in your area eat with a fawk?

After they pahk da cahh.

ChrisJ

> @STEVEusaPA said:
> As long as people know what you mean I don't think it matters. Don't people in your area eat with a fawk?
>
> After they pahk da cahh.

That's not Brooklyn

STEVEusaPA

ChrisJ said:

> @STEVEusaPA said:

> As long as people know what you mean I don't think it matters. Don't people in your area eat with a fawk?

>

> After they pahk da cahh.



That's not Brooklyn

My bad...thought you were going 'Boston'.

the_donut

Bawston.

JohnNY

STEVEusaPA said:

Are ya snowed in today @JohnNY ? 4th Bore'Easter for us in the Philly area. Started at 5:30, dug out my house, my fathers house, just finished the shop...now I have to go to work. Snow...grrr

My Jeep and I enjoy the snow, but I've had it.

JohnNY

ChrisJ said:

As long as people know what you mean I don't think it matters. Don't people in your area eat with a fawk?

Yeah, we eat with fawks. Don't yous?

Tim McElwain

For what it is worth Honeywell spells it with "ER".