A telephonist is a person whose job is to answer the phone for a big company, a hotel, or a hospital, and to send each call to the right person inside. In the old days this was a real, visible job: someone sat at a board full of wires and plugs, took the call, and connected it. Later the board became a desk with buttons, but the job stayed the same — you are the door that every outside call comes through. This word is British English. Americans say 'switchboard operator' or just 'operator'. It is also a word that is quietly dying, because most companies now use a machine that says 'press 1 for sales, press 2 for service'. So you will meet 'telephonist' most often in older books, in old job advertisements, and in British companies that still have a real person on the front desk. If you say it about a modern office worker, it may sound slightly old-fashioned, and many younger speakers would say 'receptionist' instead — though a receptionist also greets people who walk in, and a telephonist only handles the phone.

總機（人員）、接線生。台灣講公司電話總機那位就是 telephonist；「接線生」偏舊時代插線接電話的形象，「總機小姐／總機人員」是現在辦公室常聽到的說法。注意不要跟「櫃檯人員」（receptionist）混在一起，櫃檯還要接待走進來的客人。