Radiotelegrams

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of communication sent via radio that is transmitted as a written message
2. Messages relayed through radio signals, often preformatted and used for urgent communication
3. Written communications that are dispatched over radio waves, typically in a coded format for clarity and efficiency

Etymology: "Radiotelegrams" is simply the plural of "radiotelegram", a compound built from "radio-", the combining form drawn from "radio" (short for radiotelephone, and ultimately from Latin "radius", ray), and "telegram", a message sent by telegraph. Its meaning follows directly from those parts: a telegram sent by radio waves rather than by electrical signals along a wire. The plural carries no special history of its own. It is the ordinary English plural of the singular, so the word's story is really the story of its two components, which entered the language in quick succession as wireless technology spread in the early twentieth century. The combination is transparent enough that it needed no coinage beyond joining the two.