電話

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 友達に電話します。▶ —
   I call my friend.
2. 電話番号を教えてください。▶ —
   Please tell me your phone number.

Collocations

Mnemonic

でんわ — 電話, Sino-Japanese. A 19th-century neologism. Unpack the two kanji: 電 (lightning / electricity) + 話 (speech) = 'speech sent by electricity'. When Bell invented the telephone in 1876, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean nearly simultaneously coined the same kanji compound — Japanese 電話 denwa, Chinese 电话 diànhuà, Korean jeonhwa (also 電話). Three East Asian languages built the same name from the same two characters for the same invention. The Han-character cultural sphere's power to coin terms is compressed into this one word. Turn it into a verb with する: 電話する. The person you call takes the particle ~に: 友達に電話する (call a friend). The Korean pattern 'chinguhante jeonhwahada' lines up exactly. You meet these characters again in Mandarin Roots, as 電 and 話.

Quick check

1. How do you say "answer the phone" in Japanese?

   • 電話に出る (correct, idiomatic)
   • 電話を答える (literal "answer", wrong)
   • 電話を取る (= "pick up", less idiomatic)
   • 電話で言う (= "say by phone", wrong)