telephone

telephone既可指用来远距离通话的电话设备，也可作动词表示打电话；在加拿大和美国英语中，它还可指“传话游戏”或信息在传递中变形的情况。

💡 记忆钩子

把telephone想成“把声音传到远处”的工具：它首先是电话设备，也可以指拿在手里的听筒；当话语像接力一样一个人传给下一个人时，内容可能逐渐走样，于是telephone又发展出“传话游戏”和“传话失真”的意思。

📝 学习建议

先掌握“电话设备”和“打电话”这两个核心义项；日常英语中telephone常被更口语的phone替代。
不要把telephone只理解成“电话号码”；它主要指设备或打电话这一动作，具体号码通常要用phone number表示。

📖 中文释义

noun

core 电话设备

📖 指让人能够通过电信号与远处的人双向通话的设备，包括传统电话和现代电子电话；日常说的phone常常就是它的简称。

💡 常见结构是“use/install/pick up the telephone”或“talk on the telephone”。telephone强调设备或较正式的说法，日常口语通常更常用phone。不要把它误当作“电话号码”；“电话号码”应说phone number。

countable

The telephone rang just as we sat down for dinner.

我们刚坐下吃晚饭，电话就响了。

There is a telephone in the hallway for visitors.

走廊里有一部供访客使用的电话。
rare 听筒

📖 指电话设备上供人拿在手里、听见对方声音并对着说话的那一部分。这是较旧的用法，现在通常直接说听筒或电话听筒。

💡 常出现在历史语境或描述旧式电话的句子中，常见结构是“lift/pick up/replace the telephone”。现代英语里telephone通常指整部设备，而不是单独的听筒。不要在普通对话中把telephone自动理解成听筒。

countable historical
common 传话游戏

📖 在加拿大和美国英语中，指一种接力传话的游戏：第一个人说一句话，大家依次转述，最后的内容往往已经变了。

💡 通常用作不可数名词，常见结构是“play a game of telephone”或“the game of telephone”。这是加拿大和美国英语中的地域用法，不能假定所有英语地区都这样说。这里的telephone不是电话设备，而是借用了“信息逐人传递”的概念。

Canada US uncountable

The children played telephone and laughed at the final message.

孩子们玩传话游戏，听到最后传出的内容都笑了。
common 传话失真

📖 在加拿大和美国英语中，指一个消息经过多人转述后被曲解、变形，最后与原意相差很远的情况；它来自传话游戏的比喻。

💡 通常用在“a game of telephone”或“turn into telephone”的结构中，说明消息因层层转述而失真。这个比喻义常见于非正式评论和新闻讨论，但仍带有明显的北美地域色彩。不要用它表示一般的电话故障或通话中断。

Canada US figuratively uncountable

The rumor became a game of telephone as it spread through the office.

这则谣言在办公室里传开后，逐渐变成了以讹传讹的局面。

telephones plural

verb

core 打电话联系

📖 指尝试通过电话联系某人或某处，核心画面就是拿起电话把声音传到远处。

💡 常见结构是“telephone someone”或“telephone to someone”，也可单独说“telephone”。现代口语中phone或call更自然，telephone作动词显得正式。不要在telephone后机械加介词to：直接接人时通常说telephone someone。

ambitransitive

Please telephone me when you arrive at the station.

你到车站后请给我打电话。

I telephoned the hotel to confirm our reservation.

我给酒店打了电话，确认我们的预订。
common 通过电话传达消息

📖 指把某个消息、事实或指示通过电话告诉别人，重点不只是联系，而是传递具体内容。

💡 常见结构是“telephone something to someone”或“telephone someone the news”。接人的结构通常不需要介词，而说明消息接收者时可用to。该用法较正式，口语中常改用tell someone something over the phone。

transitive

She telephoned the results to her manager before noon.

她在中午前通过电话把结果告诉了经理。

telephones present,singular,third-person telephoning participle,present telephoned participle,past telephoned past

📘 英文释义 (WordNet) 共 3 组

get or try to get into communication (with someone) by telephone;

同义词集: call telephone call up phone ring

I tried to call you all night

Take two aspirin and call me in the morning

electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds

同义词集: telephone phone telephone set

I talked to him on the telephone

下位: extension, extension phone, french telephone, handset, telephone extension

transmitting speech at a distance

同义词集: telephone telephony

上位: telecom, telecommunication 下位: call, phone call, telephone call, voice mail, voicemail

🌳 词源

telephone源自法语，最终来自古希腊语中表示“远处”和“声音”的词根，字面上就是“远处的声音”。

The noun is derived from tele- (prefix meaning ‘from a distance’) + -phone (suffix denoting a device which makes a sound), modelled after German Telephon (“early apparatus converting sound into electrical signals”) (dated) (now German Telefon). The word was first used to refer to the modern device in 1876 by the Scottish-born Canadian-American engineer Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922). The prefix tele- is ultimately derived from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “afar, far away, far off”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- (“to turn end-over-end; to revolve around; hence, to dwell, sojourn”). The suffix -phone is ultimately from Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound; voice”), and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say; to speak”). Noun sense 4.4 (“system of communication using musical notes”) is borrowed from French téléphone (“kind of megaphone; system of communication using musical notes”). The verb is derived from the noun.

🔄 变式

telephoned past telephones plural telephoning present

🏷 单词标签 & 词根