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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 Englishalphabet, together with somepunctuation marks andnumbers
A letter(sense 2) written in the early 19th century

Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishletter,lettre, fromOld Frenchletre, fromLatinlittera(“letter of the alphabet";in plural, "epistle”).DisplacedOld Englishbōcstæf(literally“book staff”) in sense 1 andǣrendġewrit(literally“message writing”) in sense 2.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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letter (pluralletters)

  1. Asymbol in analphabet.
    There are twenty-sixletters in the English alphabet.
  2. A written or printed communication, generally longer and more formal than anote.
    I wrote aletter to my sister about my life.
    • 1692,William Walsh, “Preface”, inLetters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant:
      The style ofletters ought to be free, easy, and natural.
    • 1892,P.A.C., edited byCharlotte Porter andHelen 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,page94:
      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 theletter into the air, and immediately they will come to you.” And the young man called the devils and threw theletter into the air, and the prince of darkness came,[…]
    • 1921,Ben Travers, chapter 1, inA Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, Page & Company, published1925,→OCLC:
      He read theletter 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, inAn Autobiography, part I, London:Collins,→ISBN:
      An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-lookingletter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
  3. Theliteralmeaning of something, as distinguished from itsintended andremoter meaning (thespirit).
    • 1651,Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Obedience”, inThe Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […],→OCLC, section I (Of Obedience to our Superiours),page183:
      In obedience to humane laws, we muſt obſerve theletter 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 theletter.
    • 1847,Alfred Tennyson, “Part IV”, inThe Princess: A Medley, London:Edward Moxon, […],→OCLC,page81:
      I broke theletter of it to keep the sense.
    • 2009 February 23, Laurence Peter, quotingChris Davies, “Euro MP expenses 'can reach £1m'”, inBBC News‎[1], archived fromthe original on10 January 2012:
      Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing theletter but not the spirit of the rules.
  4. (in theplural)Literature.
    Benjamin Franklin was multiskilled – a scientist, politician and a man ofletters.
  5. (law) Adivisionunit of a piece of law marked by a letter of thealphabet.
    Letter (b) constitutes an exception to this provision.
  6. (US, uncountable) A size ofpaper, 8½in × 11 in (215.9mm × 279.4 mm).
  7. (Canada, uncountable) A size ofpaper, 215 mm × 280 mm.
  8. (US, scholastic)Clipping ofvarsity 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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Related terms
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Translations
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a symbol in an alphabet
written message

Verb

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letter (third-person singular simple presentletters,present participlelettering,simple past and past participlelettered)

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

Etymology 2

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FromMiddle Englishletere, equivalent tolet +‎-er.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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letter (pluralletters)

  1. One wholets, orlets out.
    theletter of a room
    a blood-letter
  2. (archaic) One whoretards orhinders.
Derived terms
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Translations
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one who lets

Etymology 3

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Noun

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letter (pluralletters)

  1. (obsolete)Alternative form oflitter.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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AfrikaansWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipediaaf

Etymology

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FromDutchletter, fromMiddle Dutchlettere, fromOld Frenchlettre, fromLatinlittera.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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letter (pluralletters,diminutivelettertjie)

  1. letter(letter of the alphabet)

Derived terms

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Dutch

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DutchWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedianl

Etymology

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FromMiddle Dutchlettere, fromOld Frenchlettre, fromLatinlittera.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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letter f (pluralletters,diminutivelettertje n)

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

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Middle English

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Noun

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letter

  1. alternative form oflettre

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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letter

  1. present oflette

Etymology 2

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Noun

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letter m

  1. indefiniteplural oflett (non-standard since 2005)

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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letter m

  1. indefiniteplural oflett (non-standard since2012)

Swedish

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Noun

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letter

  1. indefiniteplural oflett
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