means An inductor is an electrical component, usually a coil of wire, that resists changes in the current flowing through it by storing energy in a magnetic field.

from From Latin 'inducere,' "to lead in" (in- "into" + ducere "to lead"), the same root that gives us 'induce' and 'duke.' The electrical sense grew from 'induction,' the 19th-century discovery that a changing magnetic field could 'lead' a current into being — the component that does this 'leading in' became the inductor.