walkie-talkie

American  

[waw-kee-taw-kee] / ˈwɔ kiˈtɔ ki /

Or walky-talky

noun

Radio.

1. a combined transmitter and receiver light enough to be carried by one person: developed originally for military use in World War II.

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walkie-talkie British  

/ ˌwɔːkɪˈtɔːkɪ /

noun

1. a small combined radio transmitter and receiver, usually operating on shortwave, that can be carried around by one person: widely used by the police, medical services, etc

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Etymology

Origin of walkie-talkie

1935–40, walk, talk, -ie

Example Sentences

At one of the district's main entrances, an armed member of the government security forces was holding a walkie-talkie and a map of where his personnel were deployed.

From Barron's

"I went to a Jewish school. My children went to the same Jewish school I did. You know, every parent there does security -- you stand outside the school with a walkie-talkie," he told AFP.

From Barron's

Instead, to help his family after his father had a stroke, he got a job in Hollywood, working as a “walkie-talkie guy” on the set of a TV movie called “Found Money.”

From Los Angeles Times

One of her colleagues raised the alarm over a walkie-talkie and then "we finished evacuating the visits without quite realising really what was going on".

From BBC

In contact with the bench by walkie-talkie, it was also the communication with his assistants, the sports scientist, the physio and the fitness coach that Allardyce saw the value in.

From BBC

Related Words

• intercom
• pager