Engineering, Construction, and Logistics Vocabulary

Posted on Nov 22, 2025 in Technology

Technical Terminology and Definitions

Design: The collective word for all the information that is given in order to produce or build something.
Drawing: A type of picture that has been drawn in order to present design information.
Scale: The ratio between the size of items shown on a drawing and their actual size (in reality).
Full-Scale Drawing: The dimensions of the drawing are the same as their real size.
Small-Scale Drawing: Often referred to as a general arrangement drawing.
Large-Scale Drawing: Often referred to as a detail drawing.
To Scale-Off Drawings: To measure dimensions on a drawing using a scale rule and take them to be exact.
Drawn to Scale: When the dimensions of the drawing correspond with a specific scale.
Precision or Accuracy: How exact something is.
Tolerance: The acceptable difference between the ideal designed size and the actual size.

Wet: Covered in water or another liquid.
Concrete: A very hard building material made by mixing together cement, sand, small stones, and water.
Slab: The block of concrete that makes up a floor. It can be laid on the ground or supported by beams and columns to form the higher storeys of a building. Structural engineers refer to this type as a suspended slab.
Warehouse: A building used for storing large quantities of goods.
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV): Driverless vehicles which operate in warehouses and factories.
High Bay Warehouse: A tall warehouse, approximately 30 metres high, with multiple levels of racks (frames or shelves, made of bars, to hold things) for storing pallets.
Pallet: A flat wooden structure onto which heavy goods are put so that they can be moved using a forklift truck.
Forklift Truck: A small vehicle with two strong bars of metal on the front which is used for lifting heavy goods.
Amplified: Made greater.
Tilt: When something is in a sloping position or when something moves in a particular direction, especially up or down.
Manoeuvring: Moving or moving something with skill and care.

Set of: Collection or group.
Hard Copy: Printed paper copy.
Contractor: A company that has been employed for a project or contract.
Fabrication: Making something or putting something together.
Kick-Off Meeting: A meeting held to officially start a project.
Queries: Questions.
Submitted: Sent officially.
Please Note That: A commonly used phrase in correspondence, referring to important information.
Amendment (N): A request for change or a change itself.
Approve (V): To show approval or ratify.
Approval (N): Support or agreement.
Circulate (V): To pass around.

Cable Tray: A narrow metal deck suspended from a ceiling or fixed to a wall which supports several cables.
Budget: How much money is available (e.g., the budget for designing, building, and testing a prototype for a new high-speed train).
Capacity: How much something needs to produce or carry (e.g., how much power an electrical circuit must be able to carry).
Dimensions: Size (e.g., the diameter of the wheels of a mountain bike).
Layout: The overall shape of something and the positions of different parts relative to one another (e.g., the layout of the main components of a car engine).
Looks: What something looks like from an aesthetic point of view (e.g., the look of a car in terms of the shape of its bodywork).
Performance: Similar to capacity; how much power a generator needs to produce.
Regulations: Laws and standards that a design must comply with (e.g., safety regulations and quality standards).
Timescale: How much time is available (e.g., the schedule for building a new airport).

Mammoth: A type of elephant which no longer exists. (Adjective: extremely large).
Woolly: Made of wool.
Carve: To make something by cutting the surface of stone, wood, etc.
Logistics: Handling and transporting.
Plinth: A base.
Slings: Flat straps which can be attached to crane hooks and placed under objects in order to lift them.
Crane: A tall metal structure with a long horizontal part which is used for lifting and moving heavy objects.
Low-Loader: A truck with a low, flat trailer, used for transporting large heavy vehicles.
Stonemason: A person who carves stone.

Feasibility

The possibility of doing something.

Improvement

Making things better.

Redesign

Designing again in order to improve or change a design.

Test

A way of discovering, by questions or practical activities, what someone knows, or what someone or something can do or is like.

Experiment

A test done in order to learn something or to discover whether something works or is true.

Prediction

A forecast, trying to say or guess what will happen.

Theory

An opinion or explanation.

Container: A hollow object, such as a box or a bottle, which can be used for holding something, especially to carry or store it.
Air-Drop: The act of bringing supplies or equipment by dropping them from aircraft, often using parachutes (a large piece of special cloth which is fastened to someone or something that is dropped from an aircraft, in order to make them fall slowly and safely to the ground).
Cargo: The goods carried by a ship, aircraft, or other large vehicle.
Ground Speed: An aircraft’s speed when measured against the ground rather than the air through which it moves.
Drop: To fall or to allow something to fall.
Bounce: To move up or away after hitting a surface, or to jump up and down.
Slide: To move easily and without interruption over a surface.
Roll: To move somewhere by turning over and over or from side to side.
The Military: The armed forces.
Tank: A container which holds liquid or gas (e.g., a water, fuel, or petrol tank).
Cushion: To make the effect or force softer.