Fone

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A nonstandard spelling of the device used to talk with someone at a distance over a wire or wireless connection
2. An informal variant spelling for the telephone, the electronic device that carries voices between distant people
3. Another way of writing telephone, referring to the instrument for conversing with people located far away

Etymology: Before it was a phone, the word was Greek. "Phōnē" meant "sound" or "voice," and English borrowed it as a combining element for words about sound. "Fone" is a simplified respelling that makes the "ph" sound as a plain "f," the same pronunciation with a more phonetic spelling. The device sense comes from "telephone," built from Greek "tēle," meaning "far," and "phōnē." A "telephone" was a voice carried over a distance, and "phone" was later clipped from it. "Fone" follows the same sound-and-voice root, so the spelling changes while the pronunciation and the meaning stay the same.

Synonyms: phone, telephone