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tannoy

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tannoy

  • /ˈtænɔɪ/

Where it comes from

A genericised trademark of Tannoy Ltd, a manufacturer of public address systems. "Tannoy" is a syllabic abbreviation of tantalum + alloy, which was the material used in a type of electrolytic rectifier developed by the company.

noun tannoys

  1. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial A public address system. Although the supermarket tannoy was bravely broadcasting Rigoletto, its meat counter was thick with wurst and its wine shelves loaded with Liebfraumilch.

verb tannoys · tannoying · tannoyed

  1. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, ambitransitive To transmit, or communicate with, by means of a public address system.

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MLA

"tannoy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tannoy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tannoy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tannoy

Chicago

"tannoy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tannoy.

BibTeX
@misc{tannoy_2026,
  title = {tannoy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tannoy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}