Faraday used the term cation for a positively charged ion that moves toward the cathode during electrolysis.
Faraday introduced the vocabulary of ions and electrodes in the 1830s while studying how electric currents pass through solutions. He recognized that material moved through an electrolyte toward oppositely charged electrodes, although the microscopic nature of atoms and ions was not yet understood.
The word “cation” reflects its direction of movement: the term comes from Greek roots associated with going down or toward. A cation is positively charged and is attracted to the negatively charged cathode. An anion, by contrast, is negatively charged and moves toward the positive anode.
One subtle point often causes confusion: cations move toward the cathode in an electrolytic cell, but the cathode is not always negative in every electrochemical device. In a galvanic cell, for example, the cathode is positive. The defining idea is reduction at the cathode, not a universal electrode sign.