In this paper, the nature of iron loss in electrical steel during alternating field excitation is investigated more precisely. The exact definition of AC iron loss is cleared by accurately measuring the iron loss for conditions of both the sinusoidal magnetic field and sinusoidal magnetic flux density. The results of this approach to iron loss calculations in electrical steel are compared to experimentally-measured losses. In addition, an inverse hysteresis model considering eddy current loss was developed to analyze the iron loss when the input is the voltage source. With this model, the inrush current in the inductor or transformer as well as the iron loss can be calculated.