Standard Lemma guide

earpiece

noun · 4 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.

  • UK: /ˈɪəpiːs/
  • US: /ˈɪɹpiːs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH1 R P IY0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IY1 R P IY0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A speaker placed inside or held near to the ear.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Holonym: headpiece (sometimes holonymous)
  • Holding the earpiece to my ear, I could hear him speaking clearly.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A receiver of a telephone to hold near to one's ear.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The arm on a pair of glasses that hooks over the ear to hold them in place.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • My glasses won't stay on, as I've broken the left earpiece.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

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: earphone, headphone, phone

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: electro-acoustic transducer

Narrower terms: earplug, telephone receiver, receiver

History

Etymology

From ear + piece.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ականջակալ (akanǰakal) — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Bulgarian: слушалка (slušalka) — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Catalan: orellera — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Chinese Mandarin: 耳塞 (ěrsāi) — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Danish: øresnegl — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Dutch: oortje — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Finnish: korvanappi — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Finnish: korvakuuloke — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • German: Ohrhörer — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • German: Ohrstück — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Māori: pokotaringa — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Portuguese: fone de ouvido — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Portuguese: auscultador — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Portuguese: fone — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Russian: нау́шник (naúšnik) — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Scottish Gaelic: fòn-cluaise — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Spanish: auricular — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • Spanish: pinganillo — speaker placed inside or held near the ear
  • German: Hörer — receiver of a telephone to hold near to ear
  • Spanish: auricular — receiver of a telephone to hold near to ear
  • Spanish: fono — receiver of a telephone to hold near to ear
  • Spanish: auditivo — receiver of a telephone to hold near to ear
  • Bulgarian: дръжка на очила (drǎžka na očila) — arm of pair of glasses
  • Finnish: sanka — arm of pair of glasses
  • Russian: ду́жка (dúžka) — arm of pair of glasses
  • Spanish: patilla — arm of pair of glasses
  • Swedish: skalm — arm of pair of glasses