loudspeaker

Etymology

It is formed from English loud + speaker.^[2][3][4] Etymonline files it under the spelling loud-speaker,^[3] and Wiktionary also records loud speaker.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instrument that turns variations in an electric current into sound waves: 1884, in the English Mechanic and Mirror of Science of 26 September.^[2] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1880–85,^[4] Etymonline to 1898,^[3] and Merriam-Webster's dictionaries to 1920.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes the device as working like a telephone receiver but amplifying the sound, and names its uses in public-address systems, radio and television sets, and phonographs.^[5] The word was later shortened: Etymonline dates speaker for the device to 1926,^[3] and Collins also gives reproducer as another name.^[7] In American slang of the 1930s a loud speaker was a self-important person or braggart among college students (1934), and one's wife in underworld and prison talk (1933).^[8]

Timeline

• 1884 – a device that turns electric signals into sound.^[2]
• 1926 – speaker, short for the word.^[3]
• 1933 – in American underworld slang, one's wife.^[8]
• 1934 – in American college slang, a braggart or self-important person.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A device that turns electric signals into amplified sound, as in public-address systems and radios: The announcement crackled through a loudspeaker above the platform.^{[7][9][6][5][2]}
2. A cabinet holding one or more such devices, usually with other electrical equipment.^[1]
3. (US slang) A braggart, or a person who seems or claims to be important.^[8]
4. (US slang) One's wife.^[8]

Related words

• loud
• speak
• speaker

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin