White family landline

White family landline

Old style telephone landline

Old style telephone landline

Black telephone

Black telephone

Telephone, derived from the Greek words τῆλε (t ē le, meaning "far") and πω νή (ph ō n ē, meaning "sound"), formerly translated as "German wind". It is a remote communication device that can transmit and receive sound. As early as the 18th century in Europe, the term "telephone" was used to refer to a microphone made of strings of wires (cups connected by strings of wires). The appearance of the telephone is attributed to Alexander Graham Bell. The principle of early telephones was that speaking sound was a composite vibration in the air, which could be transmitted to a solid and transmitted to a conductive metal through electrical pulses.