mobile

See also: Mobile and -mobile

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊbaɪl/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊbəl/, /ˈmoʊbil/, /ˈmoʊbaɪl/, sculpture always IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊbil/

Adjective

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊ.baɪl/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊbaɪl
• (US) enPR: mōʹbəl, IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊbəl

Noun

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊ.baɪl/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊbaɪl
• (US, phone) enPR: mōʹbəl, IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊbəl
• (US, sculpture) enPR: mōʹbēl, IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊbil/
• Rhymes: -əʊbiːl
• Homophone: Mobile

Adjective

mobile (comparative more mobile, superlative most mobile)

1. Capable of being moved, especially on wheels.

   Antonyms: fixed, immobile, sessile, stationary

   a mobile home

2. Pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones.

   mobile number

   mobile internet

   • 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):

     A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.

3. Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom.

   Mercury is a mobile liquid.

4. Easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction; excitable; changeable; fickle.

   Synonyms: excitable, fickle

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 7, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     the quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition

5. Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind.

   mobile features

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 176:

     His finely cut features were capable of every variety of expression; they were, to use a French epithet, expressive as their epithets for all social qualities usually are, mobile in the extreme.

6. (biology) Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement.

Derived terms

• MASH
• mobile crane
• mobile library
• mobile phone
• mobile station

 

Translations

capable of being moved

• Arabic: مُنْتَقِل‎ (muntaqil), مُتَنَقِّل‎ (mutanaqqil)
• Armenian: շարժական (hy) (šaržakan), շարժուն (hy) (šaržun)
• Azerbaijani: səyyar, mobil
• Bulgarian: подвижен (bg) (podvižen), мобилен (mobilen)
• Catalan: mòbil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可动的

• Czech: mobilní (cs), pohyblivý (cs)
• Dutch: beweeglijk (nl), mobiel (nl)
• Esperanto: movebla
• Finnish: liikkuva (fi)
• French: mobile (fr)
• Galician: móbil m
• Georgian: მოძრავი (moʒravi), გადატანადი (gadaṭanadi), მობილური (mobiluri)
• German: beweglich (de), mobil (de)
• Greek: κινητός (el) m (kinitós)

  Ancient: κινητικός (kinētikós)

• Hebrew: נַיָּד‎ (he)
• Hungarian: mozgatható (hu), mozgó (hu), mobil (hu), mobilis, hordozható (hu), szállítható, kiemelhető
• Interlingua: mobile (ia)
• Italian: mobile (it)
• Japanese: 可動 (ja) (かどう, kadou)
• Latin: mōbilis (la)
• Latvian: mobils
• Lithuanian: mobilus (lt)
• Malay: mudah alih (ms), mudalih
• Norwegian: bevegelig (no), mobil (no)
• Persian: سیار‎ (fa)
• Polish: przenośny (pl), mobilny (pl), ruchomy (pl)
• Portuguese: móvel (pt), movediço (pt)
• Romanian: mobil (ro)
• Russian: моби́льный (ru) (mobílʹnyj), подвижной (ru) (podvižnoj), передвижно́й (ru) (peredvižnój)
• Sanskrit: जङ्गम (sa) (jaṅgama)
• Slovak: mobilný
• Spanish: móvil (es), celular (es), movible (es)
• Swedish: flyttbar (sv), mobil (sv), rörlig (sv)
• Tagalog: gala
• Turkish: (literally) taşınabilir (tr) c
• Volapük: golovik, vabovik
• Yiddish: מאָביל‎ (mobil)

pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones

• Finnish: matkapuhelin- (fi) (pertaining to); mobiili (fi) (by agency of)
• Georgian: მობილური (mobiluri)
• Hungarian: mobil- (hu)

characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity

• Finnish: nopealiikkeinen
• Hungarian: mozgékony (hu), könnyen/hígan folyó, hígfolyós (hu), önthető, fluid (hu)

easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction — See also translations at excitable,‎ fickle

• Finnish: ailahteleva (fi)
• Hungarian: változékony (hu), változó (hu), élénk (hu), gyorsan reagáló

changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind

biology: capable of spontaneous movement

• Finnish: liikuntakykyinen

Noun

mobile (plural mobiles)

Mobile

Mobile hanging over a baby's crib

2. (art) A kinetic sculpture or decorative arrangement made of items hanging so that they can move independently from each other.
4. (telephony, UK) Ellipsis of mobile phone.

   Synonym: cell phone

   • 2000, “Idioteque”, in Kid A, performed by Radiohead:

     Mobiles squerking, mobiles chirping / Take the money and run

6. (uncountable, Internet) The internet accessed via mobile devices.

   there are many business opportunities in mobile

7. One who or moves, or who can move (e.g. to travel to a different place).
   • 1963, Highway Research Record:

     […] if the constrained "immobiles" are given the same transportation access as the unconstrained "mobiles". […] We concentrated on a mobile teenager population that had good public transportation or automobile access and a […]

   • 1988 February 25, Nigel Nicholson; Michael West, Managerial Job Change: Men and Women in Transition, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 132:

     Table 6.5 does indeed show that non-changers were more contented […] For Table 6.7 shows that even when we take account of the initial differences between the mobiles and immobiles, the mobiles' ratings of job characteristics move strongly in a positive direction while all the immobiles' record negative shifts. So the pattern is clear and consistent: jobs get better for movers and worse for non-movers.

   • 2005 July 19, Ian M. Philpott, The Royal Air Force: The Trenchard Years, 1918–1929, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN:

     One ex-airwoman recalls meal times for both 'mobiles' and 'immobiles', when they sat on backless benches at long bare tables. The 'immobiles' brought in their own food, crockery and cutlery. A free-standing iron range was used […]

Descendants

• → Japanese: モバイル (mobairu)
• → Persian: موبایل‎ (mobâil)

Translations

decoration

• Catalan: mòbil (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 机动 (zh)

• Esperanto: mobilo
• Finnish: mobile (fi)
• French: mobile (fr) m
• German: Mobile (de) n
• Greek: μόμπιλ n (mómpil), κρεμαστό διακοσμητικό n (kremastó diakosmitikó)
• Japanese: モビール (mobīru)
• Korean: 모빌 (mobil)
• Norwegian: uro (no) m
• Spanish: móvil (es) m
• Swedish: mobil (sv) c
• Turkish: dekorasyon (tr)
• Welsh: symudyn m

mobile phone — see mobile phone

internet accessed via mobile devices

• Finnish: mobiili internet

Related terms

• mobility
• mobilization
• mobilize
• move

 

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mew-‎ (0 c, 56 e)

Further reading

• mobile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• mobile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• mobile at OneLook Dictionary Search
• mobile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mobile phone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mobile (sculpture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• bemoil, emboil, emboli

Danish

Adjective

mobile

1. definite of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Finnish

Etymology

< English mobile

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmobile/, [ˈmo̞bile̞] (nalle-type declension)
• IPA^(key): /ˈmobileˣ/, [ˈmo̞bile̞(ʔ)] (hame-type declension)
• Rhymes: -obile
• Syllabification^(key): mo‧bi‧le

Noun

mobile

1. mobile (kinetic sculpture)

Declension

Inflection of mobile (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		mobile	mobilet
genitive		mobilen	mobilejen
partitive		mobilea	mobileja
illative		mobileen	mobileihin
		singular	plural
nominative		mobile	mobilet
accusative	nom.	mobile	mobilet
	gen.	mobilen
genitive		mobilen	mobilejen mobileinrare
partitive		mobilea	mobileja
inessive		mobilessa	mobileissa
elative		mobilesta	mobileista
illative		mobileen	mobileihin
adessive		mobilella	mobileilla
ablative		mobilelta	mobileilta
allative		mobilelle	mobileille
essive		mobilena	mobileina
translative		mobileksi	mobileiksi
instructive		—	mobilein
abessive		mobiletta	mobileitta
comitative		—	mobileineen

Possessive forms of mobile (type nalle)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	mobileni	mobilemme
2nd person	mobilesi	mobilenne
3rd person	mobilensa

Inflection of mobile (Kotus type 48/hame, no gradation)
nominative		mobile	mobileet
genitive		mobileen	mobileiden mobileitten
partitive		mobiletta	mobileita
illative		mobileeseen	mobileisiin mobileihin
		singular	plural
nominative		mobile	mobileet
accusative	nom.	mobile	mobileet
	gen.	mobileen
genitive		mobileen	mobileiden mobileitten
partitive		mobiletta	mobileita
inessive		mobileessa	mobileissa
elative		mobileesta	mobileista
illative		mobileeseen	mobileisiin mobileihin
adessive		mobileella	mobileilla
ablative		mobileelta	mobileilta
allative		mobileelle	mobileille
essive		mobileena	mobileina
translative		mobileeksi	mobileiksi
instructive		—	mobilein
abessive		mobileetta	mobileitta
comitative		—	mobileineen

Possessive forms of mobile (type hame)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	mobileeni	mobileemme
2nd person	mobileesi	mobileenne
3rd person	mobileensa

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mōbilis. Doublet of meuble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.bil/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

mobile (plural mobiles)

1. mobile
2. moving
3. movable

Antonyms

• immobile

Derived terms

• fête mobile
• igloo mobile
• station mobile
• téléphone mobile

 

Descendants

• → Turkish: mobil

Noun

mobile m (plural mobiles)

1. (physics) moving body
2. mobile (decoration)
3. motive (for an action, for a crime)
4. mobile phone; Ellipsis of téléphone mobile.

   Synonyms: cell, téléphone cellulaire, cellulaire, téléphone mobile, téléphone portable, portable

Further reading

• “mobile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

mobile

1. inflection of mobil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Latin mōbilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.bi.le/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔbile
• Syllabification: mò‧bi‧le

Adjective

mobile (plural mobili, superlative mobilissimo)

1. movable, mobile

   Antonym: immobile

2. moving

Derived terms

• mobilmente

Noun

mobile m (plural mobili)

1. (in the singular) piece of furniture (item of furniture)
2. (in the plural) furniture

   Synonyms: mobilia, mobilio, arredamento

3. (heraldry) charge
4. mobile (cellular phone)

   Synonyms: cellulare, telefonino

   Antonym: fisso

Related terms

• mobilia / mobilio
• mobiliare
• mobilificio
• mobilità
• mobilitare

 

Further reading

• mobile in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• mobile in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• mobile in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• mòbile¹ in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Anagrams

• emboli

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmoː.bi.le/, [ˈmoːbɪɫ̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.bi.le/, [ˈmɔːbile]

Adjective

mōbile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of mōbilis

References

• mobile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

mobile

1. definite singular of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

mobile

1. definite singular of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Romanian

Noun

mobile

1. plural of mobilă

Swedish

Adjective

mobile

1. absolute definite natural masculine singular of mobil.