TERMIUM Plus®

The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank.

WATTHEURE [1 record]

Filter results by subject field Alphabetical list of terms

Filter results by subject field

Alphabetical list of terms

Record 1 2007-08-31

English

Subject field(s)
  • Metrology and Units of Measure
  • Measurements of Electricity
DEF

The electrical energy developed during 1 hour by a power of 1 watt, equal to 3,600 joules.

CONT

The watt-hour (symbol W·h or Wh) is a unit of energy. It is most commonly used on household electricity meters in the form of the kilowatt-hour (kW·h or kWh), which is 1,000 watt-hours. It is not used in the International System of Units (SI), despite being based on the watt, as the hour is not a SI unit. The SI unit of energy is the joule (J), equal to one watt-second. It is, however, a commonly used unit, especially for measuring electric energy. 1 watt-hour is equivalent to 3,600 joules (1 W x 3600 s), the joule being the canonical SI unit of energy. Thus a kilowatt-hour is 3,600,000 joules or 3.6 megajoules.

CONT

... a 50 Wh battery can sustain a 10 watt load for 5 hours.

OBS

plural: watt-hours or watthours. Lots of variants can be found, but they should be avoided: wattshours, watts hour, watts hours, watt hours, watts-hour, watts-hours, watts/hour, watts/hours, watt/hours.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Unités de mesure et métrologie
  • Mesures de grandeurs électriques
DEF

Énergie de 3 600 joules, mise en jeu pendant 1 heure, par une puissance d'un watt.

OBS

Au pluriel : des wattheures ou des watts-heures. À éviter : watts-heure, watt-heures, watts heure, watts heures, watt heures, watts/heure, watts/heures, watt/heures.

Spanish

Save record 1

Copyright notice for the TERMIUM Plus® data bank

© Public Services and Procurement Canada, 2025
TERMIUM Plus®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank
A product of the Translation Bureau

Display options

Change the order of display of the official languages of Canada
Option to display the non-official languages (Spanish or Portuguese)
Display definitions, contexts, etc., on records

Features

Language Portal of Canada

Access a collection of Canadian resources on all aspects of English and French, including quizzes.

Writing tools

The Language Portal’s writing tools have a new look! Easy to consult, they give you access to a wealth of information that will help you write better in English and French.

Glossaries and vocabularies

Access Translation Bureau glossaries and vocabularies.

Date Modified: