letter

Forms

1.A symbol in an alphabet.
- There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.
- And a superscription also was written ouer him in letters of Greeke, and Latin, & Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE IEWES.
2.A written or printed communication, usually defined as longer and more formal than a note. (Sometimes specifically one that is on paper.)
- I wrote a letter to my sister about my life.
- The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural.
- 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.
3.The literal meaning of something, as distinguished from its intended and remoter meaning (the spirit).
- I broke the letter of it to keep the sense.
- Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing the letter but not the spirit of the rules.
4.Literature.
- Benjamin Franklin was multiskilled – a scientist, politician and a man of letters.

1.To print, inscribe, or paint letters on something.
2.To earn a varsity letter (award).
- I think Mom lettered in shot put her junior year.

Common· #732

From Middle English letter, lettre, from Old French letre, from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet"; in plural, "epistle”).

Displaced Old English bōcstæf (literally “book staff”) in sense 1 and ǣrendġewrit (literally “message writing”) in sense 2.