microphone
Meaninga small voice (made loud)
Common meaning: a device that turns sound into an electrical signal
- microlittle, smallLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 513 (approximate) · scan
- phonvoice, soundLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 877 · scan
‘little, small’ + ‘voice, sound’ → microphone
Journey through time
Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.
- micro — Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós) “little, small” (dictionary form; path not traced)
- phon — Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ) “voice, sound” (dictionary form; path not traced)
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós) ‘little, small’ + Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ) ‘voice, sound’.
Did you know (Greek phone, "voice,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry φωνή (phōnḗ), p. 877 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Greek mikros, small,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry μικρός (mikrós), p. 513 · dictionary scan; Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry MICROCOSM, p. 366 · dictionary scan
Roots
- μικρός (mikrós) Ancient Greek “little, small”
- φωνή (phōnḗ) Ancient Greek “voice, sound”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app