telephone
/ˈtelɪfoʊn/·텔러폰·noun
a device for speaking with distant people
GreekCEFR A1
Root
tele- (far) + Greek 'phōnē' (sound, voice)
Greek tēle (far) + phōnē (voice) → French téléphone (1830s) → English telephone (popularised by Bell, 1876)
In a word
tele- (far) + phone (sound) = 'far-sound'. To a 19th-century ear, the word itself must have sounded magical. The same phone echoes through symphony (sounds together), microphone (a thing for small sounds), megaphone (for big ones). The human wish to hear from far away, compressed into one word.
Examples
Please answer the telephone.
I called him on the telephone.
The telephone changed daily life forever.
Related
symphonyphoneticmegaphonemicrophonetelegraph