voicemail

Etymology

It is formed from English voice + mail, with mail in the sense of the post,^[2] and was originally written with a space between its parts, a spelling still common.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An electronic system that records messages left by telephone callers for the recipient to play back later: 1980, in the American Banker.^[5][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1982.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word named first the system and then also a single message left in it.^[5][6] The OED compares the older answering machine, and Merriam-Webster quotes a use of voice mail as an alternative to it in some businesses.^[5][3] By the 2010s voicemail was the subject of popular sayings, such as "The 8th deadly sin is leaving a friend a voicemail", posted on Twitter in 2012.^[7]

Timeline

• 1980 – an electronic system that records telephone messages for later playback.^[5][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1982.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A system that records spoken messages left by telephone callers and stores them until the recipient plays them back.^[8][3][5][4]
2. A message left in such a system: I left him a voicemail about the change of plan.^[5][6]

Related words

• voice
• mail
• answering machine
• email

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "The 8th deadly sin is leaving a friend a voicemail", 3 July 2017
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins