Vidphone

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A communication device that allows simultaneous video and audio transmission to connect people visually over distances
2. A technological device enabling both sound and imagery exchange for real-time interaction between individuals who are separated by distance
3. An apparatus that transmits both moving images and sound for live interaction across separate locations

Etymology: "Vidphone" is a compound of "vid", short for "video", and "phone", from Greek "phōnē" meaning "sound" or "voice." The "vid" element was clipped from "video", which is Latin for "I see," so the new word blends a Latin-derived visual part with a Greek-derived audio part. Its formation follows the same pattern as "vidscreen," a related coinage built from the same clipped "vid" element. Used of a device, the term describes a telephone that carries moving pictures alongside sound, so the word's meaning is essentially the sum of its two halves. Its structure makes plain that it was coined to name a combined audiovisual telephone rather than adopted from an existing word.