headphones

English

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headphones

Wikipedia

Etymology

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *káput

Proto-Germanic *haubudą

Old English hēafod

Middle English heed

English head

English phones

English headphones

From head + phones.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdfəʊnz/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdfoʊnz/
- Audio (US): (file)
(Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈhedfəʉnz/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈhedfɐʉnz/
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdfonz/
(Wales, without the toe–tow merger) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdfoːnz/

Noun

headphones pl (normally plural, singular headphone)

A pair of cushioned speakers worn over or in the ears so only the wearer can hear the sound.
Synonyms: cans (slang), heads

Circumaural headphones enclose the ear, supra-aural headphones rest on the ear's surface, and earbuds are placed inside the ear.
- 1995, “Headphones”, in Post, performed by Björk:
  My headphones / They saved my life / Your tape / It lulled me to sleep
- 2005, Richard Corliss, Time, Profile of A.R. Rahman:
  Toward the end of the film Nazu rushes into her bedroom, clamps on headphones and listens to the technopoppy "I Wanna Be Free." The picturization shows her moving convulsively, desperately to the funky beat, turning ever more agitated, until we wonder what she wants to be free from: free from her domestic vise, or free from life?
- 2015, Tessa Bailey, Crashed Out‎^[1], Entangled Publishing, LLC:
  When it didn't make a sound, he realized the headphones were still covering his ears and tore them off, flinging them to the side.
- 2021 May 31, Alexandra Marvar, “The New Detectorists”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Detectorists may also carry headphones, a metal detecting shovel, hand tools such as a hori-hori (a serrated, steel hand shovel), a “finds pouch,” and a hand-held precision detector called a pinpointer.
1. (specifically) A pair of cushioned speakers worn over or on the ears.
  Antonyms: earphones, earbuds

Translations

pair of speakers worn over or in the ears so only the wearer can hear the sound

Albanian: kufje (sq) f
Arabic: سَمَّاعَة f (sammāʕa), سَمَاعَات الرَّأْس f pl (samāʕāt ar-raʔs)
Armenian: ականջակալ (hy) (akanǰakal)
Azerbaijani: qulaqlıq
Belarusian: наву́шнікі f pl (navúšniki)
Bulgarian: слу́шалки (bg) f pl (slúšalki)
Burmese: နားကြပ် (my) (na:krap)
Catalan: auriculars (ca) m pl
Chinese:
Cantonese: 耳機 / 耳机 (ji⁵ gei¹)

Mandarin: 耳機 / 耳机 (zh) (ěrjī), 耳筒 (ěrtǒng)
Czech: sluchátka n pl
Danish: hovedtelefoner pl, høretelefoner pl
Dutch: hoofdtelefoon (nl) m, koptelefoon (nl) m
Elfdalian: ärlur m
Esperanto: aŭskultiloj, kapaŭskultiloj
Estonian: kõrvaklapid pl
Faroese: oyralurtitól n
Finnish: kuulokkeet (fi), luurit pl
French: casque (fr) m, écouteurs (fr) m
German: Kopfhörer (de) m pl
Greek: ακουστικά (el) n pl (akoustiká)
Greenlandic: naalaarutit siutaasat pl
Hebrew: אָזְנִית / אוזניות (he)
Hindi: आकर्णक m (ākarṇak), हेडफ़ोन m (heḍfon)
Hungarian: fejhallgató (hu), fülhallgató (hu)
Icelandic: heyrnartól (is) n
Irish: cluasáin m pl
Italian: cuffie (it) f
Japanese: ヘッドフォン (ja) (heddofon), ヘッドホン (ja) (heddohon), イヤフォン (ja) (iyafon)
Kazakh: құлаққап (qulaqqap)
Khmer: កាស (km) (kaah) (French "casque")
Korean: 헤드폰 (hedeupon), 이어폰 (ieopon)
Kyrgyz: кулаккап (kulakkap)
Lao: ຫູຟັງ (hū fang)
Latin: auscultābulum n (Contemporary Latin)
Latvian: austiņas
Luxembourgish: Casque m
Macedonian: слушалки f pl (slušalki)
Malay: fon kepala (ms)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: чихэвч (mn) (čixevč)

Mongolian script: ᠴᠢᠬᠢᠪᠴᠢ (čikibči)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hodetelefoner pl, høretelefoner pl

Nynorsk: hovudtelefonar pl, høyretelefonar pl
Pannonian Rusyn: слухалки (sluxalki)
Persian: هدفون (fa) (hedfon), گوشی (fa) (guši)
Polish: słuchawki (pl) nvir pl
Portuguese: fones m pl, fones de cabeça m pl, auscultadores m pl
Romanian: cască (ro) f
Romansh: ureglier m
Russian: нау́шники (ru) m pl (naúšniki)
Sami:
Northern Sami: oaivetelefovdna
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: слушалице pl

Latin: slušalice pl
Sinhalese: හෙඩ්ෆෝන් (heḍfōn)
Slovak: slúchadlá pl
Slovene: slušalke f pl
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: słuchatko n
Spanish: cascos (es) m pl, auriculares (es) m pl, audífonos (es) m pl
Swedish: hörlurar (sv) c pl
Thai: หูฟัง (th) (hǔu-fang)
Turkish: kulaklık (tr)
Ukrainian: наву́шники m pl (navúšnyky)
Ulithian: heedfoon
Uzbek: naushnik (uz)
Vietnamese: ống nghe (vi), tai nghe (vi)
Welsh: clustffonau (cy)