-phone

-phone

suff.

1. Sound: homophone.

2. Device that receives or emits sound: geophone.

3. Speaker of a language: Anglophone.

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[From Greek phōnē, sound, voice; see bhā- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

-phone

combining form

1. (forming nouns) indicating voice, sound, or a device giving off sound: microphone; telephone.

2. (forming nouns and adjectives) (a person) speaking a particular language: Francophone.

[from Greek phōnē voice, sound]

-phonic adj combining form

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

phone¹

(foʊn)

n., v.t., v.i. phoned, phon•ing.

telephone.

[1880–85]

phone²

(foʊn)

n.

a single speech sound. Compare allophone, phoneme.

[1865–70; < Greek phōnḗ voice]

-phone

a combining form meaning “speech sound” (homophone), “speaker” (of the language specified) (Francophone), “an instrument of sound transmission or reproduction” (telephone), “a musical instrument” (saxophone; xylophone).

[see phone²]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.