携帯

けいたい · keitai · JLPT N3 · noun

mobile telephone

📱 携帯 = carry + belt: something you keep on you, like your phone

携 means to carry or take along; 帯 is a belt or sash, as in obi. Together they mean something carried at your side. 携帯電話, the carried phone, got shortened to plain 携帯, now the everyday word for a mobile.

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