Telephoned

/ˈtɛlɪfoʊnd/ verb

Definition

Made a phone call to someone, or called someone on the telephone.

Etymology

From 'telephone', which comes from Greek 'tele-' (far, distant) plus 'phone' (sound, voice). Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876, and 'telephoned' as a verb emerged shortly after as people adopted the technology and needed a word for using it.

Kelly Says

It's wild that we still use a verb tense ('telephoned') for something that's becoming obsolete—most people under 30 are more likely to text or video chat than 'telephone' someone, so future dictionaries might mark this as archaic!

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