In each section, topically sorted IEV entries are listed, having in general also a two digit number (EE).
Four technical committees had been formed to deal with Nomenclature, Symbols, Rating of Electrical Machinery, and Prime Movers.
The number of IEC technical committees is now more than 90, with almost as many subcommittees,[5] and there are more than 22 000 entries in the IEV, covering more than 80 subject areas.
[6] The terms and definitions are provided in English and French, and equivalent terms[7] are provided in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch (Belgian), Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish (coverage varies by subject area).
Traditionally the IEV was developed and published as a series of International Standards, initially under the reference number IEC 50 and later renumbered as IEC 60050, with each part of the standard covering a given subject, such as circuit theory, live working and electrobiology.