What does telefax mean?
A telefax is a document or image transmitted electronically through a telephone network, or the machine formerly used to make such a transmission. Before email and document scanning became commonplace, sending a fax offered a quick way to convey written material, including signatures, between distant offices. The word can also function as a verb: to telefax a contract or report means to transmit it by fax. Although telefax accurately describes this technology, it sounds dated and formal beside the shortened and more familiar fax. Both terms use the final sound of telephone and the idea of facsimile, or exact reproduction. Today, online fax services and multifunction printers still preserve the underlying practice, but the traditional standalone fax machine has largely disappeared from homes and many workplaces.
A machine used to transmit a document or image by telephone line, or the transmission or copy produced in this way.
"A telefax arrived at the front desk shortly before noon."
The term is dated; fax is the usual contemporary word.
To transmit a document or image by means of a fax machine or an equivalent electronic service.
"The agency telefaxed the revised floor plans to the contractor."
Used mainly in older or deliberately formal contexts; modern usage normally favors fax.
The plural is used when referring to multiple fax machines, transmissions, or documents.
"Several telefaxes arrived in the course of the morning."
Before email became dominant, a telephone line could carry a signed page across the world in minutes.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does telefax come from?
Telefax is a blend of telephone and facsimile, combining the idea of communication over a telephone line with the transmission of an exact copy. Facsimile comes from Latin facsimilia, derived from facere, “to make,” and similis, “like,” and was already shortened to the common form fax. As electronic facsimile transmission developed during the twentieth century, telefax became an established name for both the machines and the documents they transmitted.
Related word forms
How telefax is actually used
Telefax is now dated, although it remains understood in British and American English. In contemporary usage, fax is overwhelmingly preferred for both the machine and the act of transmission.
Easily confused with telefax
Telefax is the older full form for a fax machine or fax transmission, while fax is the standard modern term.