letter

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛtə(ɹ)/
- Audio (RP) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛtɚ/, /-ɾɚ/
- Audio (GA) (file)
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈletə(ɹ)/, /-ɾə(ɹ)/
Rhymes: -ɛtə(ɹ)
Hyphenation: let‧ter

Etymology 1Edit

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 formsEdit

lettre (obsolete)

NounEdit

letter (plural letters)

A symbol in an alphabet.
There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 23:38:
  
  And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew.
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, Poet Lore‎^[1], volume 4, AMS Reprint, OCLC 6524500, 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, […]
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎^[2]:
  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’.
The literal meaning of something, as distinguished from its intended and remoter meaning (the spirit).
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living:
  We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver.
- 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 2024748:
  I broke the letter of it to keep the sense.
- 2009 February 23, “Euro MP expenses 'can reach £1m'”, in BBC‎^[3]:
  Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing the letter but not the spirit of the rules.
(plural) Literature.
Benjamin Franklin was multiskilled – a scientist, politician and a man of letters.
(law) A division unit of a piece of law marked by a letter of the alphabet.
Letter (b) constitutes an exception to this provision.
(US, uncountable) A size of paper, 8½ in × 11 in (215.9 mm × 279.4 mm, US paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm).
(Canada, uncountable) A size of paper, 215 mm × 280 mm.
(US, scholastic) Clipping of varsity letter.
(printing, dated) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.
- 1644 February 8, John Evelyn, Diary:
  Under these buildings […] was the king's printing house, and that famous letter so much esteemed.