Radiotelegraph

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A system for sending telegraph messages through radio waves without using wires
2. A method of communication that transmits coded messages by radio signals over long distances
3. Technology that enables the transmission of telegraph signals wirelessly by means of radio frequencies

Etymology: Radiotelegraph is a compound built from "radio" and "telegraph," and its history is essentially the history of those two parts joined together. The first half comes from Latin "radius," meaning a ray or spoke of a wheel, which entered modern languages as a scientific term for rays of light and, later, for electromagnetic waves. The "radio-" element was in use as a combining form by the late nineteenth century, and it was the wireless transmission of signals that gave it its present sense. The second half, "telegraph," is a Greek-based formation. "Tele" means "far off" (from "têle"), and "graphein" means "to write," so a telegraph is literally a device for writing at a distance. French adopted it as "télégraphe," and English took it up in the early nineteenth century for the optical and then electrical systems that sent messages along wires. Radiotelegraph therefore describes a telegraph whose signals travel through the air rather than along a wire.

Synonyms: wireless telegraph, radio telegraph, telegraph, wireless communication, radio communication