Parts of a Telephone – Handset, Cradle and Rotary Dial

All 10 parts on the diagram

Show the list

Start here: 6 main parts 6

Handset The handle that carries the receiver and the transmitter. Held to the ear and mouth.
Receiver (earphone) The earphone: it turns the electrical signal back into the caller's voice.
Transmitter (microphone) The microphone turns the sound of your voice into electrical signals. They are sent down the line.
Switchhook The switch that the resting handset holds down. That keeps the phone on hook. Lifting the handset releases it.
Base The body of the telephone. It holds the dial and, inside, the ringer that sounds for an incoming call.
Finger wheel The wheel with one finger hole for each digit. Turn it clockwise to the stop and let go, and it spins back, sending the digit as pulses.

Handset and cradle 2

Cradle Holds the handset when the phone is not in use.
Handset cord The coiled cord that connects the handset to the base.

Base and dial 2

Number plate The face plate under the finger wheel. Printed with the digit, and often letters, for each hole.
Finger stop The metal stop that the finger is pulled round to. The wheel is then let go.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-27. (1) Wikipedia, Telephone, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone : the essential elements are a microphone (transmitter) to talk into and an earphone (receiver) that reproduces the voice at a distance, usually built into a handset held to the ear and mouth; the transmitter converts sound to electrical signals and the receiver converts them back; a ringer to announce an incoming call; calls started with a keypad or dial; the receiver hung on a hook that held a switch, the switchhook; cradle designs with the handset separate from the cradle base. (2) Wikipedia, Rotary dial, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_dial : the finger wheel has one finger hole per digit; the wheel turned clockwise against a spring to the finger stop, then released to return at a governed speed while sending pulses; the finger wheel over the face plate (number plate) printed with digits and often letters. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site by script, 2026-09-27. Own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a landline desk telephone with a rotary dial. Start with the 6 main parts, then the handset and cradle, and the base and dial.

Read the full guide

The handset

The handset carries the receiver, the earphone you hold to your ear, and the transmitter, the microphone you speak into. It rests on the cradle, holding the switchhook down until you lift it.

The rotary dial

The finger wheel has one hole for each digit over the number plate. Put a finger in a hole, turn the wheel round to the finger stop and let go: as it spins back, it sends that digit down the line as a run of pulses.

Receiver is the ear end and transmitter the mouth end: the phone receives the other voice and transmits yours.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a landline phone called?

The handset, with the receiver and transmitter at its ends, the cradle it rests on, the switchhook under it, the handset cord, the base, and a dial or keypad on the front.

What is the part of a phone you speak into called?

The transmitter, a microphone in the mouth end of the handset. The ear end is the receiver.

How does a rotary phone dial work?

You pull the finger wheel round from a digit's hole to the finger stop and release it. A spring turns it back at a steady speed, and on the way it sends that digit as a series of pulses.