headphone

UK/ˈhɛdfəʊn/US/ˈhɛdfoʊn/

nounA2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,252 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: headphones

A headphone is one of a pair of small speakers worn over the ears. A headphone socket.

The singular is used mostly in compounds, since nobody wears one on its own. A good pair of headphones will show up faults in a recording that speakers hide.

Definitions of headphone

1nounheadphoneOne of a pair of small speakers worn over the ears.A2+
“One headphone had gone dead halfway through.”

headphone is a speaker.

Also accepted in games: earphone

Where it comes from

From head + phone.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

headphone in the wild

The first headphones were developed in the late 19th century for use by switchboard operators, to keep their hands free.
Headphones
Initially, the audio quality was mediocre and a step forward was the invention of high fidelity headphones.
Headphones
Most commonly, headphone amplifiers are found embedded in electronic devices that have a headphone jack, such as integrated amplifiers, portable music players (e.g., iPods), and televisions.
Headphone amplifier
Bose has sold aviation headsets since 1989 and consumer headphones since 2000.
List of Bose headphones
The current range of headphones and headsets includes wireless over-ear models, true wireless in-ear models, as well as aviation and military models.
List of Bose headphones

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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.

Related words

headphones

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