Etymograph

English

handphone

From hand + phone.

A compound of hand + phone

Proto-Germanic *handuz

Proto-West Germanic *handu

Old English hand

Middle English hond

English hand

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine’

Proto-Hellenic *pʰōnā́

Ancient Greek φωνή ‘sound’

French téléphone

English telephone

English phone

The story

For the sense of mobile phone, compare with Chinese 手機 /手机 (shǒujī, literally “hand machine”) and Korean 손전화 (sonjeonhwa, literally “hand telephone”).

Today it means

noun A mobile phone.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / handphone