Definify.com

Definition 2024


電話

電話

See also: 电话

Chinese

electric; electricity; electrical
 
dialect; language; spoken words; speech; talk; words; conversation; what someone said
trad. (電話)
simp. (电话)

Noun

電話

  1. telephone; phone
    時候電話 [MSC, trad.]
    时候电话 [MSC, simp.]
    Dāng nǐ bù zài de shíhou, diànhuà xiǎng le. [Pinyin]
    The phone rang when you weren't here.
  2. telephone call
    電話 / 电话   Wǒ gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.   I'll give you a call.
  3. telephone number
    電話多少 / 电话多少   Nǐ de diànhuà shì duōshào?   What's your phone number?

Usage notes

Note that in Mandarin, the noun 電話电话 (“telephone”) is used in any verb involving a phone, such as 打電話打电话 (dǎdiànhuà, “to make a phone call”), 回電話回电话 (huídiànhuà, “to call back”), 接電話接电话 (jiēdiànhuà, “to answer the phone”), etc.

Derived terms

Descendants


Japanese

Kanji in this term
でん
Grade: 2

Grade: 2
on'yomi

Etymology

Wasei kango, from (den, electric) + (wa, conversation). See also 話す (hanasu).

Pronunciation

Noun

電話 (hiragana でんわ, romaji denwa)

  1. telephone
    電話 (でんわ) ()
    denwa o hiku
    to install a telephone
    電話 (でんわ) ()
    denwa ni deru
    to answer the phone
  2. telephone call; phone call; call
    電話 (でんわ) ()ける
    denwa o kakeru
    to make a call
    電話 (でんわ) ()かって ()
    denwa ga kakatte kuru
    to receive a call
    電話 (でんわ) ()
    denwa o kiru
    to hang up

Compounds

Verb

電話する (hiragana でんわする, romaji denwa suru)

  1. to make a phone call; to telephone; to call

Usage notes

  • In order to imply whom one is calling as is done in English with the preposition to in make a phone call to or by the objective case as him in the sentence I called him, the Japanese use (ni):
  1.  (わたし) (かれ)電話 (でんわ)するつもりだ。
    Watashi wa kare ni denwa suru tsumori da.
    I'm going to call him.

Conjugation

Descendants

References

  1. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja in this term

Noun

電話 (jeonhwa, McCune-Reischauer: chŏnhwa, Yale: cēnhwa) (hangeul 전화)

  1. Hanja form? of 전화, “telephone”.

Vietnamese

Hán tự in this word

Noun

電話

  1. Hán tự form of điện thoại, “telephone