earphone
noun
Simple meaning
Electro-acoustic transducer for converting electric signals into sounds.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
irfohnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɪɹfoʊn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Electro-acoustic transducer for converting electric signals into sounds; it is held over or inserted into the ear
“It was not the typing but the earphones that she disliked.”
A transducer that converts electric signals into sound and is held near the ear, especially as part of a telephone; an earpiece or headphone.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Electro-acoustic transducer for converting electric signals into sounds; it is held over or inserted into the ear
Used this way, earphone is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“It was not the typing but the earphones that she disliked.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “earphone that …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Nearby words
- earpiece , rarer, so it draws attention
- phone , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Natural pattern: earphone that …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use earphone
- “It was not the typing but the earphones that she disliked.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- microphonenoun
- currentnoun
- circuitnoun
- hearverb
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.