Handy

Meaning

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mobile phone, mobile, cell phone, phone (portable, wireless telephone)

Frequency

Zürich

handy

Aargau

chnoche

Appenzell Innerrhoden

handy

Appenzell Ausserrhoden

handy

Zürich

telephon

Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈhɛndi/

Some sources claim the existence of an early English preform. Perhaps from English handie-talkie, apparently used as a Motorola product name based on walkie-talkie. Or perhaps derived from English handheld transceiver, coined by CB radio users, later informally applied to the first mobile phones, and soon found in product names. Others assert the use for a phone is exclusively German, possibly as a short form of Handfunktelefon, as which it was marketed by firms like Bosch and Hagenuk. Thus equivalent to an anglicisation of Hand (“hand”) + -i (diminutive suffix).