Dial

How to spell dial

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dial mean?

1. nounA round face or disc marked with numbers or settings that a pointer or hand moves across to show a measurement or selection.
2. verbTo enter a telephone number or otherwise operate a control to make a connection or setting.

Dial in a sentence

• noun

  The pressure gauge has a clear dial that is easy to read at a glance.

• verb

  You can dial the support line free of charge from any landline.

• noun

  She turned the dial on the oven to the correct temperature.

• verb

  To reach reception, dial zero from the room phone.

Where does dial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the medieval Latin dialis, meaning 'daily', which itself grew from the Latin dies, the ordinary word for 'day'. The earliest dials were sundials, discs marked to show the hour by the position of the sun across the course of a day, so the 'daily' sense is literal: the device tracked the passage of each day. English took up the word in the late Middle Ages, first for these timekeeping faces, then by extension for any round graduated face a pointer moves across, such as a clock face or a gauge. When the telephone arrived with its rotating numbered wheel, that wheel was naturally called a dial, and the verb 'to dial' a number followed. The same Latin dies sits inside everyday relatives like 'diary' and 'journal', and the short, simple spelling is exactly what trips writers who expect such a familiar word to be longer.

How the word is built

• dial (from Latin dialis 'daily', via medieval Latin dialis for a daily timekeeping disc); single root, no affixes