gramophone

UK[ˈɡɹæ.məˌfəʊn]US[ˈɡɹæ.məˌfoʊn]

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutraldated · an editor’s judgement

Other forms: gramophones

A gramophone is the old horn-shaped machine that played records before electric players. A needle in a groove, and no electricity at all.

The sound was produced entirely mechanically, since the needle vibrated a diaphragm and the horn amplified it, which is why the picture of a dog listening to one is called His Master's Voice. The American word was phonograph. Record player took over from both. The Grammy awards take their name from it, which is why the trophy is shaped like one.

Definitions of gramophone

1noungramophoneAn early machine for playing records using a horn and needle.C2
“There was a wind-up gramophone in the corner of the room.”

Also accepted in games: phonograph, record player

Where it comes from

Gramophone was a trademark. Emile Berliner coined it in 1887 from Greek gramma, a letter, and phōnē, a sound, which is the phonograph's two parts in the other order.

Ancient Greek
γράμμα — letter
an unknown language
Gramophone
English, today
gramophone

Built from

φωνή · Ancient Greek — sound

From an unknown language Gramophone. From the trademark Gramophone, coined by Emile Berliner in 1887 after the invention of the first phonograph, from Ancient Greek γράμμα (“letter”) + φωνή (“sound”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 4 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

gramophone in the wild

Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom.
Columbia Graphophone Company
Emile Berliner was a German-American inventor and businessman who invented the lateral-cut flat disc record, also known as a "gramophone record," used with a gramophone.
Emile Berliner
Frederick William Gaisberg was an American musician, recording engineer and one of the earliest classical music producers for the gramophone.
Fred Gaisberg
The awardee receives a gold-colored figurine of a gramophone.
Golden Gramophone Award
The database contains data about TV, radio, video, movies that have been shown in cinemas, gramophone records, CDs, cassette tapes, video games and multimedia.
Svensk mediedatabas

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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