talkie

Everyday

1. (old-fashioned) A film with sound and spoken words, as opposed to a silent film; the first "talkies" were made a long time ago. tree →
2. In "walkie-talkie": a small hand-held radio for talking to someone nearby. tree →

In the lessons

In history and media lessons "talkies" were a big change in cinema: before them films had no spoken sound and words appeared on cards. Many silent film stars lost their jobs when the talkies came. Children more often meet the word in "walkie-talkie", used in games, camping and by security guards.

Examples

• The first talkies amazed cinema audiences. tree →
• Before talkies, films had music but no voices. tree →
• Grandpa's grandpa saw the very first talkies. tree →
• We used walkie-talkies to talk across the campsite. tree →
• "Over and out!" said Sam into the walkie-talkie. tree →
• Some silent film actors had funny voices and failed in the talkies. tree →

Note

Countable: a talkie, talkies. Old-fashioned word; today we just say "film" or "movie". Spelled -ie. "Walkie-talkie" has a hyphen.