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letter

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Letter

English

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Pronunciation

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Cursive script letters (sense 1) of the English alphabet, together with some punctuation marks and numbers
A letter (sense 2) written in the early 19th century

Etymology 1

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From Middle English letter, lettre, from Old French letre, from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet"; in plural, "epistle”), from Etruscan, from Ancient Greek διφθέρᾱ (diphthérā, “tablet”). Related to diphtheria. Displaced Old English bōcstæf (literally “book staff”) in sense 1 and ǣrendġewrit (literally “message writing”) in sense 2.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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letter (plural letters)

  1. A symbol in an alphabet.
    There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.
  2. A written or printed communication, generally longer and more formal than a note.
    I wrote a letter to my sister about my life.
    • 1692, William Walsh, “Preface”, in Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant:
      The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural.
    • 1892, P.A.C., edited by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke, Poet Lore: A Magazine of Letters, volume 4, New York, N.Y.: AMS Reprint Company, →OCLC, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s ‘Golden Legend’ and its Analogues, page 94:
      The magician gave this to the young man and said to him,“ Go at such an hour of the night and stand before a pagan tomb and call the demons, and throw the letter into the air, and immediately they will come to you.” And the young man called the devils and threw the letter into the air, and the prince of darkness came, […]
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
    • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:
      An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
  3. The literal meaning of something, as distinguished from its intended and remoter meaning (the spirit).
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Obedience”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, section I (Of Obedience to our Superiours), page 183:
      In obedience to humane laws, we muſt obſerve the letter of the Law, where we can without doing violence to the reaſon of the Law and the intention of the Law-giver: but where they croſſe each other, the charity of the Law is to be preferred before its diſcipline, and the reaſon of it before the letter.
    • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part IV”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 81:
      I broke the letter of it to keep the sense.
    • 2009 February 23, Laurence Peter, quoting Chris Davies, “Euro MP expenses 'can reach £1m'”, in BBC News‎[1], archived from the original on 2012-01-10:
      Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing the letter but not the spirit of the rules.
  4. (in the plural) Literature.
    Benjamin Franklin was multiskilled – a scientist, politician and a man of letters.
  5. (law) A division unit of a piece of law marked by a letter of the alphabet.
    Letter (b) constitutes an exception to this provision.
  6. (US, uncountable) A size of paper, 8½ in × 11 in (215.9 mm × 279.4 mm).
  7. (Canada, uncountable) A size of paper, 215 mm × 280 mm.
  8. (US, scholastic) Clipping of varsity letter.
  9. (printing, dated) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.
Synonyms
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Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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letter (third-person singular simple present letters, present participle lettering, simple past and past participle lettered)

  1. (transitive) To print, inscribe, or paint letters on something.
  2. (intransitive, US, scholastic) To earn a varsity letter (award).
    • 1992 September 23, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes‎[2]:
      I think Mom lettered in shot put her junior year.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English letere, equivalent to let +‎ -er.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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letter (plural letters)

  1. One who lets, or lets out.
    the letter of a room
    a blood-letter
  2. (archaic) One who retards or hinders.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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letter (plural letters)

  1. (obsolete) Alternative form of litter.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Afrikaans Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia af

Etymology

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From Dutch letter, from Middle Dutch lettere, from Old French lettre, from Latin littera.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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letter (plural letters, diminutive lettertjie)

  1. letter (letter of the alphabet)

Derived terms

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Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

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From Middle Dutch lettere, from Old French lettre, from Latin littera.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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letter f (plural letters, diminutive lettertje n)

  1. letter (letter of the alphabet)
  2. (obsolete) letter (written message)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: letter
  • Negerhollands: letter
  • → Caribbean Javanese: lèter
  • → Indonesian: leter
  • → Japanese: レッテル (retteru)
  • → Papiamentu: lèter, lèterchi, letter
  • → Saramaccan: letè

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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letter

  1. present of lette

Etymology 2

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Noun

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letter m

  1. indefinite plural of lett (non-standard since 2005)

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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letter m

  1. indefinite plural of lett (non-standard since 2012)

Swedish

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Noun

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letter

  1. indefinite plural of lett
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=letter&oldid=83033373"
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