Terminology
The words antenna (plural: antennas) and aerial are used interchangeably. Usually a rigid metallic structure is called an "antenna" and the wire form is called an "aerial". However, note the important international technical journal, the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. In the United Kingdom and other areas where British English is used, the term aerial is supposedly more common, even for the rigid types.
The origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In 1895, while testing early radio apparatus in the Swiss Alps at Salvan, Switzerland in the Mont Blanc region, Marconi experimented with long wire "aerials". He used a 2.5 meter vertical pole, with a wire attached to the top running down to the transmitter, as a radiating and receiving aerial element. In Italian a tent pole is known as l'antenna centrale, and the pole with the wire was simply called l'antenna. Until then wireless radiating transmitting and receiving elements were known simply as aerials or terminals. Because of his prominence, Marconi's use of the word antenna (Italian for pole) spread among wireless researchers, and later to the general public.
In common usage, the word antenna may refer broadly to an entire assembly including support structure, enclosure (if any), etc. in addition to the actual functional components. Especially at microwave frequencies, a receiving antenna may include not only the actual electrical antenna but an integrated preamplifier or mixer.
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"Rabbit ears" dipole antenna for television reception
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Cell phone base station antennas
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Wi-Fi WestNet Wi-Fi base station antennas in Calgary, Alberta
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Parabolic antenna by Himalaya Television Nepal
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Yagi antenna used for mobile military communications station, Dresden, Germany, 1955
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Turnstile type transmitting antenna for VHF low band television broadcasting station, Germany.
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Folded dipole antenna
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Large Yagi antenna used by amateur radio hobbyists
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A mast radiator antenna for an AM radio station in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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