phone

a combining form meaning “speech sound” (homophone ), “an instrument of sound transmission or reproduction” (telephone ), “a musical instrument” (saxophone; xylophone ).

Origin:
see phone²

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Collins

World English Dictionary

phone¹ (fəʊn)

—n, —vb
	short for telephone

phone² (fəʊn)

—n
	phonetics a single uncomplicated speech sound

[C19: from Greek phōnē sound, voice]

-phone

—*combining form*
1.	(forming nouns) indicating voice, sound, or a device giving off sound: microphone; telephone
2.	(forming nouns and adjectives) (a person) speaking a particular language: Francophone

[from Greek phōnē voice, sound]

-phonic

—*adj combining form*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

phone

1884, shortening of telephone. The verb is attested from 1889, from the noun. Phone book first recorded 1925; phone booth 1927.

-phone

comb. form meaning "voice," from Gk. phone "voice, sound," from PIE base *bha- "to speak, say, tell" (cf. L. for, fari "to speak," fama "talk, report;" see fame).

Example sentences

Great for stashing your cell phone and seeds pockets, she suggests.

My phone is about as integrated into my life as my left temporal lobe.

Nothing came out of it, not even a follow up phone interview.

He was a heavy cell phone user, and it was found on the side of his head

against which he'd hold his phone.

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call-in car phone cell phone drunk dial mobile phonathon

Slang

Hold the phone!

talk on the big white phone

Image for phone

Matching Quote

"You hear that, Vitus? The phone is dead. Even the phone is dead."

-Peter Ruric