cell, cellphone, cellular phone and mobile phone

[ostap77]

How would you rank them according to the frequency of use in speech?

 

[jamiep]

In British English we use "mobile phone" or simply "mobile".

The other terms are more American English and I'll leave it to a AmE speaker to clarify the common usage there.

 

[riquecohen]

In AmE, cell and cellphone seem to be more frequently used.

 

[TheParser]

How would you rank them according to the frequency of use in speech?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) I am an old man who seldom uses a cellular telephone. So I cannot

answer your question.

(2) I wanted to point out, however, that this word is an excellent

example of how a word in English becomes shortened.

(3) I assume it started out as "cellular telephone."

Since people love to speak fast, it was obvious that people

were not going to keep saying the whole term. So maybe

(I am only guessing) it progressively became:

cellular phone

cell phone

cellphone

cell (I think -- only think -- that most people feel that "cell"

is really too short!!!)

*****NOT A TEACHER *****

P. S. Are people even going to start referring to it as their c?

 

[Tdol]

How would you rank them according to the frequency of use in speech?

Internationally, I get the impression that mobile is more widely used.