In English, a "'shrouded" connector is one with walls that surround its mate. What is the corresponding adjective for its mate?

Question

For the last few years, I have been searching for an adjective that describes all connectors that fit inside a shrouded connector. I have not found a satisfactory one. I am about to go to press with a publication, which, until now, has a dummy placeholder for that adjective. I am desperate to replace that placeholder with an industry term.

I am not looking for opinions. I am looking for factual replies, please.

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{Source: Made with SolidWorks / My pictures}

To be clear, I am not asking about the gender of the contacts:

• male
• female
• hermaphrodite
• genderless

I am asking about the gender of the housing:

• with walls
• fits inside a walled connector <-- this one
• no walls
• self-mating

To show how difficult this has been for me, here are some attempts and suggestions I received over the years:

Shrouded mate	The other mate	Notes
Pocket	Boss	Mechanical terms
Mortise	Tenon	Carpentry terms
Shrouded	Fitting	Suggested by my girlfriend
Shrouded	Harbored	My latest attempt
Shrouded	Enshrouded	The placeholder
Shrouded	Gazinta	As in "goes into", coined by poet Ogden Nash in 1941
Shrouding	Shrouded	Logical, but against present norms
Wrap	Jut	My first attempt
Female housing	Male housing	A German manufacturer
Cap	Receptacle	Molex, in a few cases
Receptacle	Plug	Also Molex, in other cases (*)
Socket	Plug	AC power connectors in some countries (*)

(*) Goes against IEEE definition of "plug".

Answer 1

The term "shrouded connector" is not well defined. This is probably where your issue stems from. So let's try to define them, with sources.

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Wikipedia references the "Electronic Engineering Dictionary" to provided a definition of "Shrouded Header":

A male connector having exposed pins surrounded by side walls which are molded onto a plastic base.

Granted this is a "header" rather than the more general "connector", but it gives us an idea of the general usage for the term "shrouded". Essentially referring to having the connector pins surrounded by a protective shell (e.g. by the plastic housing of the connector).

This usage of "shrouded" could be extended to any connector by essentially following the same definition: having the connector contacts surrounded by a protective shell.

Under this definition, all of the connectors you show could be considered shrouded.

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There is a patent, US4721475A, for shrouded electrical connectors. From this document we have:

female socket and a male plug that is insertable into the socket to make electrical contact therewith, and each of which is surrounded by a shroud

and:

• first annular shroud means surrounding said plug and extending past said plug toward said socket;

• second annular shroud means surrounding said socket and extending past said socket toward said plug

So by that definition, both female/male and or plug/sockets would both be called "shrouded". For example, "shrouded plug"/"shrouded socket".

Again, under this definition, all of your pictures are shrouded.

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We therefore would use other characteristics to define them.

• Plug and Socket would be commonly used for the first and second rows in your post. Prefix shrouded if you so please.
  • For the first row left hand side, "Locking" would be a common descriptor for the additional locking mechanism.
• Header and Receptacle are commonly used terms for the third row in your image. The header would be called shrouded. The receptacle could be too, but that is sort of implied for such female receptacles, so we go by other identifying features such as them using IDC contacts on the other side.
• Mezzanine is the common name for the fourth row. Again with plug and receptacle describing the two halves.

Answer 2

In English

That’s the problem. Just as there’s no single spoken English - just lots of dialects, there’s no single technical English jargon. Many of those terms have local use - not even limited to a geographic area, but to a particular industry. Same concepts may have different terms used to describe them, or even none if they are of no concern in a particular segment of the industry.

While it would be very nice to have a single official source for, say, American English technical jargon, it’s IMHO a lost cause.

Any term you come up with should be good as long as it works for you, you’re consistent in its use, and provide a glossary with project documentation. The latter is - to me - a basic tenet of literacy in engineering documentation. Someone reading the project package may come from a culture with a very different technical English jargon.

Answer 3

Since female conductors are always assumed shrouded by default, the defining term is "unshrouded female connector", and that is what they are sold as.

A "female connector" is shrouded: an "unshrouded female connector" is not.

Conversely, a "male connector" is not shrouded, a "shrouded male connector" is.

If your application requires you to use non-standard terms, you'll have to make up your own, or ask for opinions.