earphones
- 1A pair of small loudspeakers worn inside or over each ear, without a band connecting them over the head.
He slipped his earphones in before the flight and started his favorite podcast.
The new earphones fit snugly without any band pressing on her head.
Similarearbuds
Note
A plural-only noun: one device with two ear pieces, handled like scissors or trousers. You put earphones in, they are comfortable, and to count them you say a pair of earphones. The missing band over the head is what sets them apart from headphones. Each piece sits in or on its own ear. For the ordinary plural of a single speaker, see the simple plural.
- 2Plural of earphone.
The earphones came tangled in a knot at the bottom of her bag.
Cheap earphones often distort the bass at high volume.
Note
The singular behind this plural comes from the telephone: an earphone is a transducer held near the ear, an earpiece. Used this way, earphones can be counted one by one, as in two earphones or one earphone lost. Each is a separate unit rather than half of a set. In the paired listening device, by contrast, the word always keeps its -s.
earphones is a form of earphone
earphone, noun: A small transducer that changes electric signals into sound, held close to the ear, as in a telephone earpiece or a headphone. Full entry
- Forms
- earphoneearphones plural
- Spelling
- earphone → earphones: add -s
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
Plural of earphone.