English
robocall
From robo- + call.
Proto-Germanic *kalzōną ‘to call’
Proto-West Germanic *kalʀōn
Old English ceallian ‘to call’
Old English *callian
Middle English callen ‘to call’
English call
The story
First use appears c. 1998 in the Associated Press Newswire.
Today it means
noun An automated phone call, commonly for telemarketing purposes, that uses both an autodialer and a recorded message.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “robocall”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / robocall