telegram n.

before vowels tel-, word-forming element meaning "far, far off, operating over distance" (also, since c. 1940, "television"), from Greek tele "far off, afar, at or to a distance," related to teleos (genitive telos) "end, goal, completion, result," from PIE root *kwel- (2) "far" in space or time.

noun word-forming element, "that which is written or marked," from Greek gramma "that which is drawn; a picture, a drawing; that which is written, a character, an alphabet letter, written letter, piece of writing;" in plural, "letters," also "papers, documents of any kind," also "learning," from stem of graphein "to draw or write" (see -graphy). Some words with it are from Greek compounds, others are modern formations. Alternative -gramme is a French form.

From telegram (1850s) the element was abstracted by 1959 in candygram, a proprietary name in U.S., and thereafter put to wide use as a second element in forming new commercial words, such as Gorillagram (1979), stripagram (1981), and, ultimately, Instagram (2010). The construction violates Greek grammar, as an adverb could not properly form part of a compound noun. An earlier instance was the World War II armed services slang latrinogram "latrine rumor, barracks gossip" (1944).

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "far" (in space or time). Some sources connect this root with *kwel- (1), forming words to do with turning, via the notion of "completion of a cycle."

It forms all or part of: paleo-; tele-; teleconference; telegony; telegraph; telegram; telekinesis; Telemachus; telemeter; telepathy; telephone; telescope; television.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit caramah "the last;" Greek tele "far off, afar, at or to a distance," palaios "old, ancient," palai "long ago, far back;" Breton pell "far off," Welsh pellaf "uttermost."