Standard Lemma guide

earphone

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɪə(ɹ)fəʊn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH1 R F OW2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IY1 R F OW2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A transducer that converts electric signals into sound and is held near the ear, especially as part of a telephone; an earpiece or headphone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

electro-acoustic transducer for converting electric signals into sounds; it is held over or inserted into the ear

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it was not the typing but the earphones that she disliked

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: earpiece, headphone, phone

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: electro-acoustic transducer

Narrower terms: earplug, telephone receiver, receiver

History

Etymology

From ear + phone.

Across languages

Translations

85 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: kufje — sound device held near the ear
  • Arabic: سَمَّاعَة (sammāʕa) — sound device held near the ear
  • Arabic: سَمَاعَات الرَّأْس (samāʕāt ar-raʔs) — sound device held near the ear
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܫܡܘܥܬܐ (šāmōˁtā) — sound device held near the ear
  • Armenian: ականջակալ (akanǰakal) — sound device held near the ear
  • Azerbaijani: qulaqlıq — sound device held near the ear
  • Belarusian: наву́шнікі (navúšniki) — sound device held near the ear
  • Bulgarian: слу́шалки (slúšalki) — sound device held near the ear
  • Burmese: နားကြပ် (na:krap) — sound device held near the ear
  • Catalan: auricular — sound device held near the ear
  • Chichewa: mahedifoni — sound device held near the ear
  • Chinese Mandarin: 耳機 /耳机 (ěrjī) — sound device held near the ear
  • Chinese Mandarin: 耳筒 (ěrtǒng) — sound device held near the ear
  • Czech: sluchátka — sound device held near the ear
  • Danish: hovedtelefoner — sound device held near the ear
  • Danish: øretelefon — sound device held near the ear
  • Dutch: oortelefoon — sound device held near the ear
  • Esperanto: kapaŭskultiloj — sound device held near the ear
  • Estonian: kõrvaklapid — sound device held near the ear
  • Finnish: kuuloke — sound device held near the ear
  • French: écouteur — sound device held near the ear
  • Georgian: ყურსასმენი (q̇ursasmeni) — sound device held near the ear
  • German: Ohrhörer — sound device held near the ear
  • Greek: ακουστικό (akoustikó) — sound device held near the ear
  • Gujarati: કાનદટ્ટો (kāndaṭṭo) — sound device held near the ear
  • Hebrew: אָזְנִית — sound device held near the ear
  • Hebrew: אוזניות — sound device held near the ear
  • Hindi: हेडफ़ोन (heḍfon) — sound device held near the ear
  • Hungarian: fülhallgató — sound device held near the ear
  • Indonesian: penyuara kuping — sound device held near the ear
  • Irish: cluasán — sound device held near the ear
  • Italian: auricolare — sound device held near the ear
  • Italian: cuffia — sound device held near the ear
  • Japanese: イヤフォン (iyafon) — sound device held near the ear
  • Japanese: イヤホン (iyahon) — sound device held near the ear
  • Kazakh: құлаққап (qūlaqqap) — sound device held near the ear
  • Khmer: កាសស្ដាប់ត្រចៀក (kaah sdap trɑɑciək) — sound device held near the ear
  • Korean: 이어폰 (ieopon) — sound device held near the ear
  • Kyrgyz: кулаккап (kulakkap) — sound device held near the ear
  • Lao: ຫູຟັງ (hū fang) — sound device held near the ear
  • Latin: auscultābulum — sound device held near the ear
  • Latin: concha auditoria — sound device held near the ear
  • Macedonian: слушалки (slušalki) — sound device held near the ear
  • Malay: fon kepala — sound device held near the ear
  • Malayalam: ഇയർഫോൺ (iyaṟphōṇ) — sound device held near the ear
  • Māori: pokotaringa — sound device held near the ear
  • Mongolian: чихэвч (čixevč) — sound device held near the ear
  • Norwegian: hodetelefoner — sound device held near the ear
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hovudtelefon — sound device held near the ear
  • Persian: هدفون (hedfon) — sound device held near the ear
  • Polish: słuchawki — sound device held near the ear
  • Portuguese: fone — sound device held near the ear
  • Portuguese: fone de ouvido — sound device held near the ear
  • Portuguese: auricular — sound device held near the ear
  • Punjabi: ਹੈਡਫ਼ੋਨਸ (haiḍfonas) — sound device held near the ear
  • Quechua: rinri uyarina — sound device held near the ear
  • Romanian: căști audio — sound device held near the ear
  • Russian: нау́шники (naúšniki) — sound device held near the ear
  • Russian: головно́й телефо́н (golovnój telefón) — sound device held near the ear
  • Scots: heidphones — sound device held near the ear
  • Scottish Gaelic: fòn-cluaise — sound device held near the ear
  • Serbo-Croatian: слушалице — sound device held near the ear
  • Serbo-Croatian: slušalice — sound device held near the ear
  • Sinhalese: හෙඩ්ෆෝන් (heḍfōn) — sound device held near the ear
  • Slovak: slúchadlá — sound device held near the ear
  • Slovene: slušalke — sound device held near the ear
  • Upper Sorbian: słuchatko — sound device held near the ear
  • Spanish: auricular — sound device held near the ear
  • Spanish: audífono intraaural — sound device held near the ear
  • Spanish: intraauricular — sound device held near the ear
  • Spanish: pinganillo — sound device held near the ear
  • Swedish: hörlur — sound device held near the ear
  • Tagalog: talinig — sound device held near the ear
  • Tamil: காதொலிப்பான் (kātolippāṉ) — sound device held near the ear
  • Tatar: колакчыннар (qolaqçınnar) — sound device held near the ear
  • Telugu: హెడ్ఫోన్స్ (heḍphōns) — sound device held near the ear
  • Thai: หูฟัง (hǔu-fang) — sound device held near the ear
  • Turkish: kulaklık — sound device held near the ear
  • Ukrainian: наву́шники (navúšnyky) — sound device held near the ear
  • Uzbek: naushniklar — sound device held near the ear
  • Uzbek: minigarnituralar — sound device held near the ear
  • Uzbek: quloqchin — sound device held near the ear
  • Vietnamese: ống nghe — sound device held near the ear
  • Vietnamese: tai nghe — sound device held near the ear
  • Welsh: clustffon — sound device held near the ear