megaphone

/ˈmeɡəˌfəʊn/MEH-guh-fohn

/ˈmɛɡəˌfoʊn/MEH-guh-fohn

Meaninga great voice

Common meaning: a cone that makes the voice louder

megabig, greatLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 928 · scan
phonvoice, soundLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 877 · scan

‘big, great’ + ‘voice, sound’ → megaphone

Journey through time

Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.

mega — Greek μέγας “big, great” (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 Greek μέγας ‘big, great’ + 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 megas, great,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry μέγας, p. 928 · dictionary scan

Roots

μέγας Greek “big, great”
φωνή (phōnḗ) Ancient Greek “voice, sound”

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app