Radiophone

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A piece of equipment that sends and picks up spoken voice messages through radio waves ; a telephone system that links callers wirelessly over radio instead of over cables
2. An apparatus for two-way voice communication using radio signals ; a phone that transmits conversation by radio rather than through a wired line
3. A wireless device that carries speech across distances by means of radio transmission ; a telephone which relies on radio links in place of physical wires

Etymology: "Radiophone" is a compound built from two Greek-derived elements: "radio-", from Latin "radius" meaning ray or spoke of a wheel, and "-phone", from Greek "phōnē" meaning sound or voice. Put together, the name describes a device that carries voice sound by radio waves, which is exactly what the word still means: a wireless voice apparatus. The pattern is a modern one. Both pieces were long established in scientific vocabulary before the compound appeared, and the "radio" element took on its wireless sense only after radio transmission became practical in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Like many technical coinages built from classical parts, the word was assembled to name a new invention rather than inherited from antiquity, so the ancient Greeks and Romans would have recognised its pieces but never its meaning.

Synonyms: radiotelephone, radio