An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form.
Electronic components have two or more electrical terminals (or leads) aside from antennas which may only have one terminal. These leads connect to create an electronic circuit with a particular function (for example an amplifier, radio reciever, or oscillator). Basic electronic components may be packaged discretely, as arrays or networks of like components, or integrated inside of packages such as semiconductor intergrated circuits, hybrid intergrated circuits, or thivkck film devices.
On a circuit diagram, electronic devices are represented by conventional symbols. Reference designators are applied to the symbols to identify the component.