letter

English

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

letters (1)

a letter (2)

Etymology

Middle English letter, lettre from Old French letre from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet"; in plural, "epistle”) from Etruscan from Ancient Greek διφθέρα (diphtherā). Displaced native Middle English bocstaf, bookstave "letter, alphabetic symbol" (from Old English bōcstæf "alphabetic symbol, written character"), Middle English bocrune, bocroune "letter, written character" (from Old English bōc "book" + rūn "letter, rune"), Middle English writrune, writroune "letter, document" (from Old English writ "letter, epistle" + rūn "letter, rune"), Old English ǣrendbōc "letter, message", Old English ǣrendġewrit "letter, written message".

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈlɛt.ə/, SAMPA: /"lEt.@/
• (Australia) IPA: /ˈlet.ə/, SAMPA: /"let.@/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ˈlɛt.ɚ/, SAMPA: /"lEt.@`/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtə(r)
• Hyphenation: let‧ter

Noun

letter (plural letters)

1. A symbol in an alphabet, bookstave.

   There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.

2. A written message. See also note.

   I wrote a letter to my sister about my life.

3. Literal meaning.

   "Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing the letter but not the spirit of the rules." - [1]

4. (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)
5. (Canada, uncountable) A size of paper, 215 mm × 280 mm
6. (US, scholastic) Short for varsity letter.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Synonyms

• (written character/alphabetic symbol) bookstave

Hyponyms

• epistle
• missive

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun letter

accountant's letter advisory letter air letter black letter capital letter chain letter comfort letter commercial letter of credit cover letter covering letter crank letter day letter dead letter office Dear John letter deficiency letter domincal letter drop letter encyclical letter fan letter form letter four-letter/four-letter word French letter guarantee letter investment letter

irrevocable letter of credit letter blindness letter bomb letter bond letter box letter carrier letter case letter missive letter of administration letter of attorney letter of comfort letter of comment letter of credence letter of credit letter of guarantee letter of indemnity letter of intent Letter of Jeremiah letter of marque letter of motivation letter of the law letter opener letter paper letter perfect/letter-perfect

letter-quality letter security letter stock letter telegram letterform letterhead letterman letterure love letter market letter news letter/news-letter/newsletter night letter no-action letter open letter night letter poison-pen letter red letter scarlet letter sea letter small letter swash letter to the letter transmittal letter varsity letter

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to letter

literacy literal

literary literate

literature

Translations

letter of the alphabet

Albanian: shkronjë (sq) Alemannic: Buchstabe m. Arabic: حرف (ar) (Harf) m., (plural:) حروف (ar) (Huruuf) m. pl. Egyptian Arabic: حرف (ḥarf) m. Armenian: տառ (hy) (taṙ), գիր (hy) (gir) Asturian: lletra f. Azeri: hərf (az) Basque: letra (eu) Belarusian: літара (be) (lítara) f. Bengali: অক্ষর (bn) (ôkshôr) Breton: lizherenn (br) Bulgarian: буква (bg) (búkva) f. Catalan: lletra (ca) f., caràcter (ca) m. Chechen: элп Chinese: Mandarin: 字母 (zh) (zìmǔ) Chuvash: саспалли Croatian: slȍvo (hr) n. Czech: písmeno (cs) n. Danish: bogstav (da) n. and c. Dutch: letter (nl) f., karakter (nl) n., letterteken (nl) n. Esperanto: litero (eo) Estonian: täht, kirjatäht, aabe, pookstav Faroese: bókstavur (fo) m., stavur (fo) m. Fijian: vola (fj) Finnish: kirjain (fi), aakkonen (fi) French: lettre (fr) f., caractère (fr) m. Galician: letra f. Georgian: ასო (ka) (aso) German: Buchstabe (de) m. Greek: γράμμα (el) (grámma) n. Haitian Creole: lèt Hebrew: אות (ot) f. Hindi: अक्षर (hi) (akṣar) m. Hungarian: betű (hu) Icelandic: bókstafur (is) m., stafur (is) m. Indonesian: huruf (id) Irish: litir (ga) f. Italian: lettera (it) f., carattere (it) m. Japanese: 文字 (ja) (もじ, móji) Kabyle: asekkil Khmer: តួអក្សរ (km) (dtūə əksor) Korean: 문자 (ko) (munja) Kurdish: Sorani: پیت (ku) (pít) Lao: ຕົວ (lo) (tua) Latgalian: liters m.

Latin: littera (la) Latvian: burts (lv) m. Lithuanian: raidė (lt) f. Lojban: lerfu Low Saxon: Bookstaav (nds) m. Lower Sorbian: pismik m. Luxembourgish: Buschtaf (lb) m. Macedonian: буква (mk) (búkva) f. Malayalam: അക്ഷരം Maltese: ittra (mt) f. Marathi: अक्शर (mr) (akṣar), अक्षर (mr) (akṣra) Mongolian: үсэг (mn) (üseg) Nepali: अक्षर (ne) (akṣar) Norwegian: Bokmål: bokstav (nb) m. Nynorsk: bokstav (nn) m. Ossetian: дамгъæ Ottoman Turkish: حرف (harf) Persian: حرف (fa) (harf), نویسه (fa) (nevisa) Polish: litera (pl) f. Portuguese: letra (pt) f., caractér (pt) m. Romanian: literă (ro) f., caracter (ro) n. Romansch: letra f., bustab m., custab m. Russian: буква (ru) (búkva) f., литера (ru) (lítera) f. (dated) Sanskrit: वर्ण (sa) (várṇa) m., अक्षरः (sa) (akṣaraḥ) Scottish Gaelic: litir (gd) f. Serbian: slovo n., bukva f. (archaic)/(poetic) Sicilian: littra (scn) f. Sinhalese: අකුර (si) (akura) Slovak: písmeno (sk) n. Slovene: črka (sl) f. Spanish: letra (es) f., carácter (es) m. Swahili: herufi (sw) Swedish: bokstav (sv) c. Tagalog: titik (tl), letra (tl) Tamil: எழுத்து (ezhuttu) Telugu: అక్షరం (aksharaM) Thai: ตัวอักษร (th) (dtua àksŏn), อักษร (th) (àksŏn), อักขระ (th) (àkkàrà) Turkish: harf (tr) Ukrainian: буква (uk) (búkva) f., літера (uk) (lítera) f. Urdu: حرف (ur) (harf) Uzbek: harf (uz) Vietnamese: chư (vi), chữ lớn (vi) Volapük: tonab (vo) Welsh: llythyren (cy) f. Yiddish: אות (os) m. or n.

written message

Albanian: letër (sq) Arabic: رسالة (ar) (risaala) f. Armenian: նամակ (hy) (namak) Azeri: məktub (az) Basque: eskutitz Belarusian: ліст (be) (list) m., пісьмо (be) (pis’mó) n. Bulgarian: писмо (bg) (pismó) n. Catalan: carta f. Cebuano: sulat Chinese: Mandarin: 信 (zh) (xìn), 信件 (zh) (xìnjiàn), 書信 (zh), 书信 (zh) (shūxìn) Cornish: lyther (kw) m. Croatian: písmo (hr) n. Czech: dopis (cs) m. Danish: brev (da) n. Dutch: brief (nl) m. Esperanto: letero (eo) Estonian: kiri (et) Faroese: bræv (fo) n. Finnish: kirje (fi) French: lettre (fr) f. Georgian: წერილი (ts‘erili), ბარათი (barat‘i) German: Brief (de) m. Greek: επιστολή (el) (epistolí) f., γράμμα (el) (grámma) n. Hebrew: מכתב (mikhtav) m. Hindi: ख़त (hi) (xat) m., पत्र (hi) (patra) m., चिट्टी (hi) (ciṭṭī) f. / चिट्ठी (hi) (ciṭṭhī) f. Hungarian: levél (hu) Icelandic: bréf (is) n., sendibréf (is) n. Ido: letro (io) Indonesian: surat (id) Interlingua: littera (ia) Irish: litir (ga) f. Italian: lettera (it) f. Japanese: 手紙 (ja) (てがみ, tegamí) Khmer: សំបុត្រ (km) (sombot) Korean: 편지 (ko) (pyeonji) Kurdish: Sorani: نامه‌ (ku) (náme)

Lao: ຈົດໝາຍ (lo) (chot-maaj) Latin: epistula (la) f. Latvian: vēstule (lv) f. Lithuanian: laiškas (lt) m. Lojban: xatra Luxembourgish: Bréif (lb) m. Macedonian: писмо (mk) (písmo) n. Marathi: पत्र (patra) Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Nepali: पत्र (ne) (patra) Norwegian: Bokmål: brev (nb) n. Nynorsk: brev (nn) n. Persian: نامه (fa) (nâme) Polish: list (pl) m. Portuguese: carta (pt) f. Quechua: chaski qillqa Romanian: scrisoare (ro) f. Romansch: brev f., breav f., charta f. Russian: письмо (ru) (pis’mó) n. Scottish Gaelic: litir (gd) f. Serbian: писмо (sr) (pismo) n. Slovak: list (sk) m. Slovene: pismo (sl) n. Spanish: carta (es) f. Swahili: barua (sw) Swedish: brev (sv) n. Tagalog: liham (tl), sulat (tl) Tajik: нома (tg) Tamil: கடுதாசி (ta) (kakitham) Telugu: ఉత్తరము (uttaramu), జాబు (jaabu) Tetum: karta, surat Thai: จดหมาย (th) (jòt măai) Turkish: mektup (tr) Ukrainian: лист (uk) (lyst) m. Urdu: خط (ur) (xat) m., پتر (ur) (patra) m. Vietnamese: thư (vi) Volapük: pened (vo) Yiddish: בריוו (briv) m.

Verb

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).

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: alone · body · point · #346: letter · become · became · second

External links

• letter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• letter in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Dutch

Wikipedia ^nl

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

letter f. (plural letters or letteren, diminutive lettertje)

1. letter (letter of the alphabet)

Derived terms

• letteren (literature)
• geletterd (literate)
• letterkunde
• letterlijk
• lettertype n.
• letterwerk n.
• letterwoord n.
• letterzetter m.
• beginletter
• drukletter
• eindletter
• hoofdletter
• kenletter
• tussenletter
• voorletter

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Swedish

Noun

letter

1. indefinite plural of lett