envelope

English

Etymology

From the French enveloppe, from envelopper.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɛn.və.ləʊp/, /ˈɒn.və.ləʊp/; SAMPA: /"En.v@.lop/, /"Qn.v@.l@Up/

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• (US) enPR: än'və-lōp, ĕn'və-lōp; IPA: /ˈɑnvəloʊp/, /ˈɛnvəloʊp/; SAMPA: /"Anv@lop/, /Env@lop/

  Audio 1 (US)

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  Audio 2 (US)

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Noun

envelope (plural envelopes)

1. A paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing.
2. Something that envelops; a wrapping
3. A bag containing the lifting gas of a balloon or airship; fabric that encloses the gas-bags of an airship.
   • 1992, Lieutenant Colonel Donald E. Ryan, Jr, The airship's potential for intertheater and intratheater airlift, DIANE Publishing, page 46:

     They have no internal or external support structure, being simply a fabric bag (or envelope) filled with a lighter than air gas. Inside the envelope are one or more "ballonets", or smaller bags, which help maintain the envelope's shape.

4. (geometry) A mathematical curve, surface, or higher-dimensional object that is the tangent to a given family of lines, curves, surfaces, or higher-dimensional objects.
5. (electronics) A curve that bounds another curve or set of curves, as the modulation envelope of an amplitude-modulated carrier wave in electronics.
6. (music) The shape of a sound, which may be controlled by a synthesizer or sampler.
7. (computing) The information used for routing an email that is transmitted with the email but not part of its contents.
8. (biology) An enclosing structure or cover, such as a membrane.
9. (engineering) The set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively.

Derived terms

• Category:English words derived from: envelope
• envelope detector
• envelope paradox
• padded envelope
• push the envelope
• return envelope
• window envelope

Synonyms

• (something that envelops): wrapper
• (bag containing the lifting gas): gasbag

Translations

wrapper for mailing

Albanian: zarf (sq) Arabic: مغلف (ar) (muġállaf) m. Armenian: ծրար (hy) (çrar) Belarusian: канверт (be) (kanvért) m. Bulgarian: плик (bg) (plik) m. Burmese: စာအိတ် (my) (sa-eik) Catalan: sobre (ca) m., sobre de carta (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 信封 (zh) (xìnfēng) Czech: obálka (cs) f. Danish: kuvert (da), konvolut (da) Dutch: envelop (nl) f., briefomslag (nl) m. Esperanto: koverto (eo) Estonian: ümbrik (et) Finnish: kirjekuori (fi) French: enveloppe (fr) f. German: Briefumschlag (de) m., Umschlag (de) m. Greek: φάκελος (el) (fákelos) m. Hebrew: מעטפה (he) (ma'atafa) f. Hindi: लिफ़ाफ़ा (hi) (lifāfā) m., लिफाफा (hi) (liphāphā) m. Hungarian: boríték (hu) Interlingua: inveloppe (ia) Italian: busta (it) f. Japanese: 封筒 (ja) (ふうとう, fūtō) Khmer: ស្រោមសំបុត្រ (km) (sraom sɑmbot)

Korean: 봉투 (ko) (bongtu) (封套 (ko)) Lao: ຊອງຫນັງສື (lo) (sǭng mang sư̄) Lithuanian: vokas (lt) m. Luxembourgish: Enveloppe (lb) f. Macedonian: плик (mk) (plik) m., коверт (mk) (kovért) m. Malay: sampul surat (ms) Persian: پاکت (fa) (pâkat) Polish: koperta (pl) Portuguese: sobrescrito (pt) m., envelope (pt) m. Romanian: plic (ro) n. Russian: конверт (ru) (konvért) m. Scottish Gaelic: cèis (gd) f., cèis-litreach (gd) f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: омотница (sh) f., коверта (sh) f., коверат (sh) m. Roman: omotnica (sh) f., koverta (sh) f., koverat (sh) m. Slovak: obálka (sk) f. Spanish: sobre (es) m. Swahili: bahasha (sw) Swedish: kuvert (sv) n., konvolut (sv) n. Tagalog: sobre (tl) Thai: ซองจดหมาย (th) (song jòt măai) Turkish: zarf (tr) Ukrainian: конверт (uk) (konvért) m. Urdu: لفافا (ur) (lifāfā) m. Vietnamese: phong bì (vi)

something that envelops

Arabic: غلاف (ar) (ġilāf) m. Bulgarian: обвивка (bg) f. Croatian: omòtāč (hr) m. Dutch: omslag (nl) m. German: Umschlag (de) m.

Greek: περίβλημα (el) (perívlima) n. Macedonian: обвивка (mk) (óbvivka) f. Romanian: învelitură (ro) f., înveliș (ro) n. Russian: обёртка (ru) (objórtka) f. Swedish: konvolut (sv) n., omslag (sv) n.

bag containing the lifting gas

German: Hülle (de) f. Romanian: sac (ro) m., pungă (ro) f.

Russian: оболо́чка (ru) (obolóčka) f. Swedish: hölje (sv) n.

geometry: object that is the tangent to a family of objects

French: enveloppe (fr) f. German: Hüllkurve f. Greek: περιβάλλουσα (el) (perivállousa) f.

Romanian: anvelopă (ro) f., înfășurătoare (ro) f. Russian: огибающая (ru) (ogibájuščaja) f.

electronics: curve that bounds a set of curves

Estonian: mähisjoon

Russian: огибающая (ru) (ogibájuščaja) f.

music: shape of a sound

Russian: огибающая (ru) (ogibájuščaja) f.

computing: routing information of an email

biology: enclosing structure or cover

Greek: περιχιτώνιο (el) (perichitónio) n., περίβλημα (el) (perívlima) n. Romanian: înveliș (ro) n.

Russian: оболо́чка (ru) (obolóčka) f.

engineering: limits within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively

Greek: κέλυφος (el) (kélyfos) n.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

• Romanian: anvelopă n. (tire); evolventă f. (tangent to a family of objects)

See also

• envelop (verb)
• Wikipedia article on envelopes used for mailing
• Wikipedia article on envelopes in geometry