telephone
tel·e·phone/ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/noun, verb
telephone is spelled T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (tel·e·phone). It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, telephone means “A telecommunication device which converts data or sounds (usually speech) into electrical signals which are then transmitted to enable two or more…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of telephone is telephones.
How many letters and syllables are in telephone?
| Letters | 9: T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: tel·e·phone |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,558th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is telephone?
Telephone appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce telephone?
- UK /ˈtɛlɪfəʊn/
- US /ˈtɛləˌfoʊn/
- US [ˈtɛɫ-]
Telephone has 3 syllables, split tel·e·phone in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-telephone.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of telephone
- telephones plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- telephoning participle, present
- telephoned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does telephone mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A telecommunication device which converts data or sounds (usually speech) into electrical signals which are then transmitted to enable two or more people to communicate with each other over a distance; now usually a device having a dial or keypad with numerals for entering a number, etc., to connect with a person, and means (such as a sound or vibration) for alerting one to an incoming call or tra
- 2
archaicShort for telephone call (“a connection established over a telephone network; a conversation held by the parties on this connection”).
- 3
A means of communicating information from one person to another or others.
- 4
Now chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a simple communication device which converts sounds (usually speech) into mechanical vibrations along a string, wire, etc.
string telephone tin can telephone
- 5
archaicA type of foghorn used for sending signals in the form of loud tones or musical notes, especially one invented in the 19th century by John Taylor, a captain in the British Royal Navy.
- 6
archaicA communication device consisting of two aligned gutta-percha speaking tubes connected to parabolic reflectors which allows speech spoken into one tube to be sent through the air to the other one, invented in the 19th century by the British engineer Francis Whishaw (1804–1856); also, a speaking tube of such a device.
- 7
archaicA system of communication using musical notes, also known as Solresol, invented in 1828 by the French composer Jean-François Sudre (1787–1862).
- 8
CanadaUSSynonym of Chinese whispers (“a game for several players in which a phrase, whispered by each person in turn to their neighbour, is often unwittingly misunderstood as it is transferred, to humorous effect by the time it reaches the last person and is compared with the original phrase; (figurative) a situation where something is changed or misunderstood as a result of passing through successive peo
verb
- 1
To convey (information, a message, news, etc.) using a telephone (noun sense 1).
- 2
To (attempt to) contact (someone) using a telephone.
- 3
obsoleteTo provide (a place) with a telephone system.
- 4
obsoleteTo transmit (sounds) over a distance.
- 5
To (attempt to) contact someone using a telephone; to make a telephone call.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate telephone?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of telephone: Tel., tx.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Telephone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | téléphone , téléphoner, appeler |
| German | Telefon, Telephon, Fernsprecher, Fon , telefonieren, anrufen |
| Portuguese | telefone , telefonar, ligar |
| Spanish | teléfono , telefonear, llamar por teléfono |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does telephone come from?
The noun is derived from tele- (prefix meaning ‘from a distance’) + -phone (suffix denoting a device which makes a sound), modelled after German Telephon (“early apparatus converting sound into electrical signals”) (dated) (now German Telefon). The word was first used to refer to the modern device in 1876 by the Scottish-born Canadian-American engineer Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922). The prefix tele- is ultimately derived from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar, far away, far off”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- (“to turn end-over-end; to revolve around; hence, to dwell, sojourn”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).