headphone

Etymology

It is formed from English head + -phone.^[2][3][4] Etymonline takes the second element as taken out of telephone.^[4] The second element goes back to Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An earphone worn or held over the ear: 1882, in the Raleigh News & Observer.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to 1887,^[4] Merriam-Webster to 1908^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1910–15.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word appeared shortly after earphone, which is recorded from 1880 for an ear trumpet and since 1881 for a small speaker held to the ear.^[2] In later use a headphone is especially one of a pair joined by a band over the head, and the word is usually plural, headphones.^[2][7][8] Informally, headphones are also called cans.^[8]

Timeline

• 1882 – an earphone worn or held over the ear.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to 1887.^[4]
• 1908 – an earphone held over the ear by a headband.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Usually in the plural, headphones: a pair of earphones joined by a band that passes over the head, for listening to music, speech or other sound: He put on his headphones and ignored the noise.^[8][7][6]
2. Either of the earpieces of such a set.^[8][2]

Related words

• earphone
• telephone
• headset

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins