Meanings
plural payphones · alternative pay phone
- A public telephone that requires prepayment to operate, generally via the insertion of coins or a credit card.
I only had ten cents in my pocket, so I couldn't use the payphone to call a cab.
1 more example
You called me from a payphone / They still got payphones / It costs a dollar a minute / To tell me you're getting sober
2020, “Kyoto”, in Punisher, performed by Phoebe BridgersSynonyms: tickey box
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA public telephone that requires prepayment to operate, generally via the insertion of coins or a credit card.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian телефонен автомат
- телефонен автомат (telefonen avtomat)a public telephone
Catalan telèfon públic
- telèfon pública public telephone
Chinese Mandarin 公用電話 /公用电话
- 公用電話 /公用电话 (gōngyòng diànhuà)a public telephone
Danish mønttelefon
- mønttelefona public telephone
Finnish rahapuhelin, yleisöpuhelin
- rahapuhelina public telephone
- yleisöpuhelina public telephone
German Münztelefon, Münzfernsprecher
- Münztelefona public telephone
- Münzfernsprechera public telephone
Hungarian nyilvános telefon
- nyilvános telefona public telephone
Indonesian telepon umum
- telepon umuma public telephone
Irish táillefón
- táillefóna public telephone
Japanese 公衆電話
- 公衆電話 (kōshū denwa)a public telephone
Korean 공중전화
- 공중전화 (gongjungjeonhwa)a public telephone
Polish telefon samoinkasujący, automat telefoniczny
- telefon samoinkasującya public telephone
- automat telefonicznya public telephone
- automata public telephone
Portuguese orelhão
- orelhãoa public telephone
Russian таксофо́н, телефо́н-автома́т
- таксофо́н (taksofón)a public telephone
- телефо́н-автома́т (telefón-avtomát)a public telephone
- обще́ственный телефо́н (obščéstvennyj telefón)a public telephone
Spanish teléfono público
- teléfono públicoa public telephone
Thai โทรศัพท์หยอดเหรียญ
- โทรศัพท์หยอดเหรียญa public telephone
Ukrainian таксофо́н
- таксофо́н (taksofón)a public telephone
Welsh ffôn talu
- ffôn talua public telephone
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
payphone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/payphone
“payphone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/payphone. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “payphone,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/payphone.
Source: payphone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.