Where does “điện thoại cục gạch” come from?

điện thoại cục gạch (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese điện thoại, from Japanese 電話, from Japanese 電, from Middle Chinese 電.

điện thoại cục gạch (Vietnamese): a box-shaped cell phone that resembles a brick, especially an old one manufactured by Nokia

Definitions

  1. a box-shaped cell phone that resembles a brick, especially an old one manufactured by Nokia

Ancestry of “điện thoại cục gạch”, step by step

điện thoại cục gạch traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Vietnamese điện thoại

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnameseđiện thoạitelephone; to telephone; to call
2Japanese電話telephone; telephone call; phone call; call; to...
3Japanese電lightning
4Middle Chinese電—

via Vietnamese cục

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnamesecụcoffice; ministry; department
2Middle Chinese局—

via Vietnamese gạch

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnamesegạcha brick; a tile; any punctuation mark that is a...
Every word from Middle Chinese 電 →Every word from Japanese 電 →Every word from Japanese 電話 →