Etymology

handphone

H4A1N1D2P3H4O1N1E1

Today it means: A mobile phone. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

From hand + phone. For the sense of mobile phone, compare with Chinese 手機 /手机 (shǒujī, literally “hand machine”) and Korean 손전화 (sonjeonhwa, literally “hand telephone”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.