"phonebook" meaning in English

See phonebook in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈfoʊnˌbʊk/ [General-American] Forms: phonebooks [plural], phone book [alternative]
Etymology: From phone + book. Etymology templates: {{com|en|phone|book}} phone + book Head templates: {{en-noun}} phonebook (plural phonebooks)
  1. A directory of all the phone numbers used in a district. Translations (telephone directory): telefonkönyv (Hungarian), távbeszélő-névsor [formal] (Hungarian), książka telefoniczna [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-phonebook-en-noun-j7KsCGcL Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Polish translations, Telephony Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 28 20 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 47 19 34 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 65 15 20 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 65 16 19 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 52 21 26 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 47 21 32 Disambiguation of Telephony: 54 34 11 Disambiguation of 'telephone directory': 63 37
  2. (by extension, computing) A large lookup table. Tags: broadly Translations (large lookup table): puhelinluettelo (Finnish), duża tablica [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-phonebook-en-noun-bz1~H43l Categories (other): Computing, Terms with Hungarian translations Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 26 48 26 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences Disambiguation of 'large lookup table': 4 96
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Hyponyms: white pages, yellow pages Derived forms: have more chins than a Chinese phonebook

Verb

IPA: /ˈfoʊnˌbʊk/ [General-American] Forms: phonebooks [present, singular, third-person], phonebooking [participle, present], phonebooked [participle, past], phonebooked [past], phone book [alternative]
Etymology: From phone + book. Etymology templates: {{com|en|phone|book}} phone + book Head templates: {{en-verb}} phonebook (third-person singular simple present phonebooks, present participle phonebooking, simple past and past participle phonebooked)
  1. (transitive, Kiwi Farms) To determine the identity of (an Internet user) by comparing personal information to real-world directories or databases (e.g., lists of people in phonebooks or relatives of those who have recently died). Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-phonebook-en-verb-~iARjn1W

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "have more chins than a Chinese phonebook"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phone",
        "3": "book"
      },
      "expansion": "phone + book",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From phone + book.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "phonebooks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phone book",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "phonebook (plural phonebooks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "white pages"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "yellow pages"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "53 28 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 19 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "65 15 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "65 16 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 21 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 21 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "54 34 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Telephony",
          "orig": "en:Telephony",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              86,
              95
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 June 13, Virginia Heffernan, “Doing the People's Business, in All Its Somnolent Glory”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "One even proposes, in a workaday monotone, that the first hundred people in any Idaho phonebook could do just as well as the legislators at making decisions in the capital.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A directory of all the phone numbers used in a district."
      ],
      "id": "en-phonebook-en-noun-j7KsCGcL",
      "links": [
        [
          "directory",
          "directory"
        ],
        [
          "phone number",
          "phone number"
        ],
        [
          "district",
          "district"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "telephone directory",
          "word": "telefonkönyv"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "telephone directory",
          "tags": [
            "formal"
          ],
          "word": "távbeszélő-névsor"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "telephone directory",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "książka telefoniczna"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Computing",
          "orig": "en:Computing",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "26 48 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              67,
              76
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 July 9, John Markoff, “Fixing Typos by Web Users, Without Raising Hackles”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "He does this by using the Domain Name System, or DNS, which is the phonebook for the Internet.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A large lookup table."
      ],
      "id": "en-phonebook-en-noun-bz1~H43l",
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "lookup table",
          "lookup table"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, computing) A large lookup table."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "large lookup table",
          "word": "puhelinluettelo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "large lookup table",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "duża tablica"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfoʊnˌbʊk/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "phonebook"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phone",
        "3": "book"
      },
      "expansion": "phone + book",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From phone + book.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "phonebooks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phonebooking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phonebooked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phonebooked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phone book",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "phonebook (third-person singular simple present phonebooks, present participle phonebooking, simple past and past participle phonebooked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To determine the identity of (an Internet user) by comparing personal information to real-world directories or databases (e.g., lists of people in phonebooks or relatives of those who have recently died)."
      ],
      "id": "en-phonebook-en-verb-~iARjn1W",
      "links": [
        [
          "identity",
          "identity"
        ],
        [
          "database",
          "database"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "Kiwi Farms",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, Kiwi Farms) To determine the identity of (an Internet user) by comparing personal information to real-world directories or databases (e.g., lists of people in phonebooks or relatives of those who have recently died)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfoʊnˌbʊk/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "phonebook"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "en:Telephony"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "have more chins than a Chinese phonebook"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phone",
        "3": "book"
      },
      "expansion": "phone + book",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From phone + book.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "phonebooks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phone book",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "phonebook (plural phonebooks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "word": "white pages"
    },
    {
      "word": "yellow pages"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              86,
              95
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 June 13, Virginia Heffernan, “Doing the People's Business, in All Its Somnolent Glory”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "One even proposes, in a workaday monotone, that the first hundred people in any Idaho phonebook could do just as well as the legislators at making decisions in the capital.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A directory of all the phone numbers used in a district."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "directory",
          "directory"
        ],
        [
          "phone number",
          "phone number"
        ],
        [
          "district",
          "district"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              67,
              76
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 July 9, John Markoff, “Fixing Typos by Web Users, Without Raising Hackles”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "He does this by using the Domain Name System, or DNS, which is the phonebook for the Internet.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A large lookup table."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "lookup table",
          "lookup table"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, computing) A large lookup table."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfoʊnˌbʊk/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "telephone directory",
      "word": "telefonkönyv"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "telephone directory",
      "tags": [
        "formal"
      ],
      "word": "távbeszélő-névsor"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "telephone directory",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "książka telefoniczna"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "large lookup table",
      "word": "puhelinluettelo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "large lookup table",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "duża tablica"
    }
  ],
  "word": "phonebook"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "en:Telephony"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phone",
        "3": "book"
      },
      "expansion": "phone + book",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From phone + book.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "phonebooks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phonebooking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phonebooked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phonebooked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "phone book",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "phonebook (third-person singular simple present phonebooks, present participle phonebooking, simple past and past participle phonebooked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To determine the identity of (an Internet user) by comparing personal information to real-world directories or databases (e.g., lists of people in phonebooks or relatives of those who have recently died)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "identity",
          "identity"
        ],
        [
          "database",
          "database"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "Kiwi Farms",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, Kiwi Farms) To determine the identity of (an Internet user) by comparing personal information to real-world directories or databases (e.g., lists of people in phonebooks or relatives of those who have recently died)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfoʊnˌbʊk/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "phonebook"
}

Download raw JSONL data for phonebook meaning in English (4.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-06-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (e79dea5 and 7f4db16). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.