letter
Definitions
General English
- nouna piece of writing sent from one person to another to pass on information
- nounone of the signs which make up the alphabet, a sign used in writing which corresponds to a particular sound
Banking
- nouna piece of writing sent from one person or company to another to ask for or to give information
- nouna written or printed sign (such as A, B, C etc.)
Information & Library Science
- nouna symbol used in writing which more or less represents one sound of a language
Media Studies
- nouna style of typeface
Travel
- nouna written or printed symbol representing a language sound or part of a sound, e.g. A, B, C
History & Origin
The distant ancestry of the word letter has never been satisfactorily explained. One possible candidate as a source that has been put forward is Greek diphthérai ‘writing tablets’. But the earliest precursor that can be positively identified is Latin littera. This meant ‘alphabetic symbol’, or in the plural ‘document’ and ‘epistle’. English acquired it via Old French lettre. Also from Latin littera are English literature and obliterate (16th c.), which means etymologically ‘remove letters’.
