A radio wave or electromagnetic wave transmitted through the air, particularly in broadcasting; usually used in plural as 'airwaves.'
Compound of 'air' plus 'wave' (from Old English wafian, meaning 'to wave' or move back and forth). The term became common in radio broadcasting in the early 1900s.
Before anyone understood what 'airwaves' actually were, people spoke of voices traveling through invisible waves in the air—it felt like magic, and in a way, radio still is: invisible signals carrying voices across continents at light speed.
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