barnacle
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Sense 1
Meaning · English
In electrical engineering, a change made to a product on the manufacturing floor that was not part of the original product design.
Register: slang
Where it’s used:
Used
American English
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 2
Meaning · English
On printed circuit boards, a change such as soldering a wire in order to connect two points, or addition such as an added resistor or capacitor, subassembly or daughterboard.
Register: slang
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Common questions
What does “barnacle” mean?
In electrical engineering, a change made to a product on the manufacturing floor that was not part of the original product design.
Is “barnacle” formal or informal?
barnacle is generally slang.