telephone

See also: Telephone, téléphone, téléphoné, and téléphône

English

A rotary-dial telephone

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) First used by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 to refer to the modern instrument, but previous devices had been given this name, which was borrowed from French téléphone. Ultimately from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛlɪfəʊn/, /ˈtɛləfəʊn/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛləfoʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tel‧e‧phone

Noun

telephone (countable and uncountable, plural telephones)

1. A telecommunication device (originally mechanical, and now electronic) used for two-way talking with another person (often shortened to phone).
2. (Canada, US, uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.
   • 2013 October 27, Erik Adams, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “The PTA Disbands””, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     And since the spring of 1995, no game of telephone has ended without some Simpsons-loving smart-ass dropping “purple monkey dishwasher” into the chain.

   • 2017 October 3, David Dobbs, “The Touch of Madness”, in Pacific Standard‎^[2]:

     In other words, Jones' career and life may have been derailed because a game of telephone went bad.

Synonyms

• blower, phone, farspeaker, Ameche (slang), dog and bone (slang), horn (informal)
• See also Thesaurus:phone

Hyponyms

• cellphone

Derived terms

Terms derived from telephone (noun)

• mobile telephone
• public telephone
• telephone book

• telephone box
• telephone call
• telephone conference

• telephone tag
• telephonic
• telephony

Translations

a device used for two-way talking with other people

• Abkhaz: ателефон (atʼelefon)
• Afrikaans: telefoon (af)
• Alabama: maanaaɬihilka, masnaaɬiilka, naaɬiikapalki (old)
• Albanian: telefon (sq) m
• Amharic: ስልክ (səlk)
• Arabic: تِلِفُون m (tilifūn), هَاتِف (ar) m (hātif)
• Armenian: հեռախոս (hy) (heṙaxos)
• Assamese: টেলিফোন (teliphün)
• Assiniboine: masʾápabi
• Asturian: teléfonu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: telefon (az)
• Bashkir: телефон (telefon)
• Basque: telefono
• Belarusian: тэлефо́н m (teljefón)
• Bengali: দূরভাষা (durbhaśa), ফোন (bn) (phōn), টেলিফোন (ṭeliphōn)
• Breton: pellgomz (br)
• Brunei Malay: talipun
• Bulgarian: телефо́н m (telefón)
• Burmese: တယ်လီဖုန်း (my) (tailihpun:), ဖုန်း (my) (hpun:), စကားပြောကြေးနန်း (my) (ca.ka:prau:kre:nan:)
• Buryat: телефон (tjeljefon)
• Catalan: telèfon (ca) m
• Cebuano: telepono
• Central Dusun: telefon
• Chechen: телефон (telefon)
• Cherokee: ᎠᎾᎦᎵᏍᎩ ᎠᏏᎳᏛ (anagalisgi asiladv)
• Cheyenne: aseéestsestôtse
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 電話／电话 (din⁶ waa^6-2), 电话 (din⁶ waa⁶)

  Dungan: дянхуа (di͡anhua), телефон (ti͡əli͡əfon)

  Hakka: 電話／电话, 电话 (thien-fa)

  Mandarin: 電話／电话 (zh) (diànhuà), 电话 (zh) (diànhuà)

  Min Dong: 電話／电话 (diêng-uâ), 电话 (diêng-uâ)

  Min Nan: 電話／电话 (zh-min-nan), 电话 (tiān-ōe)

  Wu: 電話／电话 (⁶di-gho), 电话 (di hho)

• Chukchi: вэтгавъёԓгын (vėtgavʺjoḷgyn)
• Chuvash: телефон (telefon)
• Comox: sqʷay
• Czech: telefon (cs)
• Danish: telefon (da)
• Dutch: telefoon (nl) m
• Esperanto: telefono (eo)
• Estonian: telefon (et)
• Faroese: telefon
• Finnish: puhelin (fi)
• French: téléphone (fr) m
• Friulian: telefon
• Galician: teléfono (gl) m
• Georgian: ტელეფონი (ṭeleponi)
• German: Telefon (de) n, Telephon (de) n, Fernsprecher (de) m

  Central Franconian: Fäänshpräscho

• Greek: τηλέφωνο (el) n (tiléfono)
• Greenlandic: oqarasuaat
• Guaraní: pumbyry
• Gujarati: દૂરબોલ (dūrbol), ટેલિફોન (ṭeliphon), દૂરભાષ (dūrbhāṣ)
• Hebrew: טֶלֶפוֹן (he) m (télefon)
• Hindi: दूरभाष (dūrbhāṣ), टेलीफ़ोन m (ṭelīfon), फ़ोन m (fon)
• Hungarian: telefon (hu)
• Icelandic: sími (is) m
• Ido: telefonilo (io)
• Indonesian: telepon (id)
• Interlingue:
• Inuktitut: uqaalaut
• Irish: teileafón, guthán (ga) m, fón m
• Italian: telefono (it) m
• Japanese: 電話 (ja) (でんわ, denwa)
• Kalmyk: утцн (uttsn)
• Kannada: ದೂರವಾಣಿ (kn) (dūravāṇi), ಗೆಂಟುಮಾತು (kn) (geṇṭumātu)
• Kapampangan: teleponu
• Kazakh: телефон (kk) (telefon)
• Khmer: ទូរស័ព្ទ (km) (tuurasap)
• Korean: 전화 (ko) (jeonhwa) (電話 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: , dûrbîsk (ku), dûrbîst (ku)

  Sorani:

• Kyrgyz: телефон (ky) (telefon)
• Lakota: omás’apȟe
• Lao: ໂທລະສັບ (lo) (thō la sap)
• Latin: telephonum n, telephonium n
• Latvian: telefons m, tālrunis (lv) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lingala: ebengeli
• Lithuanian: telefonas (lt) m
• Macedonian: телефо́н m (telefón)
• Malagasy: telefàonina (mg)
• Malay: telefon
• Malayalam: ടെലിഫോൺ (ml) (ṭeliphōṇ), ദൂരശ്രാവി (dūraśrāvi)
• Malecite-Passamaquoddy: mattoktihikon
• Maltese: telefon m, telefown m
• Manx: çhellvane m
• Maori: waea, whoounu, waeakōrero
• Marathi: टेलीफोन (ṭelīphon), फोन m (phon), दूरध्वनी (dūradhvanī)
• Mongolian: утас (mn) (utas), телефон (mn) (telefon)
• Nahuatl: mekatlanonotski, huehcacaquiztli
• Navajo: béésh bee haneʼé
• Nepali: टेलिफोन (ṭeliphon)
• Norman: téléphône m
• Northern Sami: telefovdna
• Norwegian: telefon (no) m
• Occitan: telefòn (oc) m
• Ojibwe: giigidowin
• Oriya: ଟେଲିଫୋନ (or) (ṭeliphonô)
• Papiamentu: telefón
• Pashto: تيلفون (ps) m (telefǔn)
• Pawnee: rarácawakataku
• Pennsylvania German: Faernschwetzer
• Persian: تلفن (fa) (telefon), گوشی (fa) (gūši)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk: foen
• Plains Cree: ᓭᐁᐧᐱᒋᑲᐣ (sewepicikan), ᐊᔭᒫᑲᐣ (ayamâkan)
• Polish: telefon (pl) m
• Portuguese: telefone (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਟੈਲੀਫ਼ੋਨ (ṭailīfon), ਫ਼ੋਨ m (fon)
• Quechua: karu rimay
• Romanian: telefon (ro) n
• Romansch: telefon m
• Russian: телефо́н (ru) m (telefón)
• Rusyn: телефо́н m (telefón)
• Sanskrit: दूरभाषा f (dūrabhāṣā)
• Scottish Gaelic: fòn f, cian-fhuaim m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: телефон m

  Roman: telefon (sh) m

• Shona: runhare
• Sindhi: ڏُور وايو (sd)
• Sinhalese: බණුව (baṇuwa), දුරකථනය (durakathanaya)
• Slovak: telefón m
• Slovene: telefon (sl) m
• Southern East Cree: ᑖᐦᑳᐱᐦᒉᓂᑲᓐ (taahkaapihcenikan)|tr=taahkaapihchenikan
• Spanish: teléfono (es) m
• Swahili: simu (sw)
• Swedish: telefon (sv) c
• Tagalog: telepono (tl), telépono (tl), hatinig (tl)
• Tahitian: niuniu paraparau
• Tajik: телефон (tg) (telefon), дургӯ (durgü)
• Tamil: தொலைபேசி (ta) (tolaipēci)
• Tatar: телефон (telefon)
• Telugu: దూరవాణి (te) (dūravāṇi), టెలీఫోను (ṭelīphōnu), ఫోను (phōnu)
• Thai: โทรศัพท์ (th) (too-rá-sàp)
• Tibetan: ཁ་པར (kha par), ཞལ་པར (zhal par) (honorific)
• Tigrinya: ተለፎን (täläfon), ስልኪ (səlki)
• Turkish: telefon (tr), alısün
• Turkmen: telefon
• Ukrainian: телефо́н (uk) m (telefón)
• Unami: sëkahsën
• Urdu: ٹیلیفون (ṭelīfon), ہاتف (hātef)
• Uyghur: تېلېفون (ug) (tëlëfon)
• Uzbek: telefon (uz)
• Venda: luṱingo
• Vietnamese: điện thoại (vi) (電話), dây nói, phôn (informal)
• Volapük: telefonöm (vo), (complete unit) telefonaparat (vo)
• Walloon: telefone
• Welsh: teliffon, ffôn (cy) f
• West Frisian: tillefoan, telefoan
• Yakut: телефон (telefon)
• Yami: dingwa
• Yiddish: טעלעפֿאָן n (telefon)
• Yup'ik: qanercuun
• Yurok: 'o chweeegeen
• Zhuang: denva

Chinese whispers — see Chinese whispers

Verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To (attempt to) contact someone using the telephone.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[3]:

     “I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ?  Why didn’t I telephone ?  Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”

2. (transitive) To convey (a message) by telephoning.
   • 2012, Robert Byron, ‎Jan Morris, Europe in the Looking-Glass

     David telephoned his apologies to his mother.

Synonyms

• call, drop a line, phone, ring
• See also Thesaurus:telephone

Translations

to call someone

• Arabic: تَلْفَنَ (talfana) (لـِ li-)
• Belarusian: звані́ць impf (zvanícʹ), пазвані́ць pf (pazvanícʹ); тэлефанава́ць impf (teljefanavácʹ), патэлефанава́ць pf (pateljefanavácʹ)
• Breton: pellgomz (br)
• Catalan: telefonar (ca), trucar (ca), cridar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 打電話／打电话 (zh) (dǎ diànhuà), 打电话 (zh) (dǎ diànhuà)

• Czech: telefonovat (cs), volat (cs)
• Danish: telefonere (da), telefonere (da), ringe (da)
• Dutch: telefoneren (nl)
• Esperanto: telefoni (eo), alvoki
• Finnish: soittaa (puhelimella)
• French: téléphoner (fr)
• Galician: telefonar
• Georgian: დარეკვა (dareḳva)
• German: telefonieren (de), anrufen (de)
• Greek: τηλεφωνώ (el) (tilefonó), καλώ (el) (kaló)
• Hindi: फ़ोन करना (fon karnā)
• Hungarian: telefonál (hu)
• Icelandic: hringja (is), hringja í
• Ido: telefonar (io)
• Italian: telefonare (it)
• Japanese: 電話をかける (ja) (でんわをかける, denwa o kakeru)
• Korean: 전화를 걸다 (jeonhwareul geolda)
• Latvian: telefonēt, zvanīt, piezvanīt
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: телефони́ра (telefoníra), ѕвони (dzvoni)
• Maltese: ċempel m
• Maori: rīngi, waea
• Persian: دورواژیدن (durvâžidan), تلفن کردن (fa) (telefon kardan)
• Polish: dzwonić (pl), telefonować (pl)
• Portuguese: telefonar (pt)
• Romansch: telefonar
• Russian: звони́ть (ru) impf (zvonítʹ), позвони́ть по телефо́ну pf (pozvonítʹ po telefónu), телефони́ровать (ru) impf or pf (telefonírovatʹ) (rare)
• Scottish Gaelic: fòn
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: телефонирати, назвати на телефон

  Roman: telefonirati (sh), nazvati na telefon

• Slovak: telefonovať, zatelefonovať, volať, zavolať
• Spanish: telefonear (es), llamar por teléfono (es)
• Swahili: piga simu
• Swedish: ringa (sv), telefonera (sv)
• Thai: โทรศัพท์ (th) (too-rá-sàp), โทร (th) (too)
• Tibetan: ཁ་དཔར་གཏོང་བ (kha dpar gtong ba)
• Turkish: telefon etmek (tr), aramak (tr), telefonlamak (tr)
• Ukrainian: дзвони́ти impf (dzvonýty), подзвони́ти pf (podzvonýty), телефонува́ти (uk) impf (telefonuváty)
• Vietnamese: gọi điện thoại, gọi điện, kêu điện thoại
• Volapük: telefonön (vo)
• Yiddish: טעלעפֿאָנירן (telefonirn)

Anagrams

• phenetole