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-phone

  1. noun combining form meaning "sound-transmitting device"
  2. noun combining form meaning "musical instrument"
  3. noun combining form meaning "speech sound" or "symbol representing a speech sound"
  4. noun combining form meaning "speaker of (a specified language)"
L1449828 on Wikidata ↗
  1. adjective combining form meaning "of or relating to a population that speaks (a specified language)"
L1449829 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈfəʊ̯n/ / /ˈfoʊ̯n/ / /ˈfɔʊ̯n/

suffix

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der. Proto-Hellenic *pʰōnā́ Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ)der. English -phone From Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound, voice, speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoh₂neh₂, from *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”); related to fame and fable. Some terms ending in phone, such as textphone, are actually compounds made with phone.

  1. A type of sound.

    allophone; homophone

  2. A device that makes a sound.

    aerophone; saxophone

  3. Forming adjectives: speaking a certain language.

    Anglophone; Francophone; Germanophone

  4. Forming nouns: a speaker of a certain language.

    Anglophone; Francophone; Germanophone