mobile

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈmoʊ.bəl/ UK /ˈməʊ.baɪl/ See IPA manual

Freq #2888

Meanings

1

adj
Able to move or be moved easily from place to place.

The hospital uses a mobile X-ray machine.
2

adj
Relating to mobile phones.

Please write your mobile number on the form.
3

adj
Able to change quickly from one state, mood, or expression to another.

The actor had a wonderfully mobile face.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · able to move or be moved... movable portable

3 adj · able to change quickly from... changeable expressive

Word family

Forms mobiles

Derived forms airmobileblingmobiledorsomobilehypermobilehypomobilemadwaremash mobmobile-firstmobilecastingmobilegeddonmobileless

Related forms mobility mobilization mobilize move

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

mobile phone
a portable wireless telephone

Adjective + noun
mobile canteen
a movable food-service unit serving people outside a fixed restaurant

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Mobile entered English in the late 15th century and goes back to Latin movere, “to move.” In the late 16th century English also adopted Latin mobile vulgus, “the common people, the fickle crowd”; this was shortened first to mobile and then to mob. Mobile phone is first recorded in the United States in 1945, and mobile phones became more widely available during the 1980s.

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).

*m(y)ewh₁- Proto-Indo-European mōbilis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# mobile

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈmoʊ.bəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈməʊ.baɪl/
**Frequency rank:** 2888

## Meanings
1. Able to move or be moved easily from place to place.
2. Relating to mobile phones.
3. Able to change quickly from one state, mood, or expression to another.

## Examples
- The hospital uses a mobile X-ray machine.
- Please write your mobile number on the form.
- The actor had a wonderfully mobile face.

## Derived Forms
- airmobile
- blingmobile
- dorsomobile
- hypermobile
- hypomobile
- madware
- mash
- mob
- mobile-first
- mobilecasting
- mobilegeddon
- mobileless

## Related Forms
- mobility
- mobilization
- mobilize
- move

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *m(y)ewh₁-
- Root: mōbilis

## Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).

## AI Etymology
Mobile comes from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments). In present-day English its meanings include able to move or be moved easily from place to place, relating to mobile phones, and able to change quickly from one state, mood, or expression to another. The historical chain runs through *m(y)ewh₁- (Proto-Indo-European) and mōbilis (Latin).

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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