letter

let·ter  (ltr)

n.

1.

a. A written symbol or character representing a speech sound and being a component of an alphabet.

b. A written symbol or character used in the graphemic representation of a word, such as the h in Thames. See Note at Thames.

2. A written or printed communication directed to a person or organization.

3. A certified document granting rights to its bearer. Often used in the plural.

4. Literal meaning: had to adhere to the letter of the law.

5. letters (used with a sing. verb)

a. Literary culture; belles-lettres.

b. Learning or knowledge, especially of literature.

c. Literature or writing as a profession.

6. Printing

a. A piece of type that prints a single character.

b. A specific style of type.

c. The characters in one style of type.

7. An emblem in the shape of the initial of a school awarded for outstanding performance, especially in varsity athletics.

v. let·tered, let·ter·ing, let·ters

v.tr.

1. To write letters on.

2. To write in letters.

v.intr.

1. To write or form letters.

2. To earn a school letter, as for outstanding athletic achievement: She lettered in three collegiate sports.

Idiom:

to the letter

To the last detail; exactly: followed instructions to the letter.

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[Middle English, from Old French lettre, from Latin littera, perhaps from Etruscan, from Greek diphther, hide, leather, writing surface.]

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letter·er n.

Synonyms: letter, epistle, missive, note
These nouns denote a written communication directed to another: received a letter of complaint; the Epistles of the New Testament; a missive of condolence; a thank-you note.

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letter

Noun

1. a written or printed message, usually enclosed in an envelope and sent by post

2. any of a set of conventional symbols used in writing or printing a language: character of the alphabet

3. the strict meaning of an agreement or document; exact wording: the letter of the law

4. to the letter precisely: you have to follow treatment to the letter for it to be effective

Verb

to write or mark letters on (a sign) [Latin littera letter of the alphabet]

lettering n

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	letter - a written message addressed to a person or organization; "mailed an indignant letter to the editor" missive document - anything serving as a representation of a person's thinking by means of symbolic marks mail - the bags of letters and packages that are transported by the postal service text, textual matter - the words of something written; "there were more than a thousand words of text"; "they handed out the printed text of the mayor's speech"; "he wants to reconstruct the original text" correspondence - communication by the exchange of letters business letter - a letter dealing with business cover letter, covering letter - a letter sent along with other documents to provide additional information crank letter - a hostile (usually anonymous) letter encyclical, encyclical letter - a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world fan letter - a letter that is a piece of fan mail personal letter - a letter dealing with personal affairs form letter - a letter that is printed in multiple copies and mailed to a list of recipients open letter - a letter of protest; addressed to one person but intended for the general public chain letter - a letter that is sent successively to several people pastoral - a letter from a pastor to the congregation round robin - a letter signed by a number of people aerogram, aerogramme, air letter, airmail letter - a letter sent by air mail epistle - a specially long, formal letter dead mail, dead letter - mail that can neither be delivered nor returned letter of intent - any letter expressing an intention to take (or forgo) some action postscript, PS - a note appended to a letter after the signature name and address, destination, address - written directions for finding some location; written on letters or packages that are to be delivered to that location line - text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen; "the letter consisted of three short lines"; "there are six lines in every stanza" invitation - a request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something; "an invitation to lunch"; "she threw the invitation away"
	2.	letter - the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech; "his grandmother taught him his letters" alphabetic character, letter of the alphabet spelling - forming words with letters according to the principles underlying accepted usage alphabet - a character set that includes letters and is used to write a language grapheme, graphic symbol, character - a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters" ascender - a lowercase letter that has a part extending above other lowercase letters descender - a lowercase letter that has a part extending below other lowercase letters digram, digraph - two successive letters (especially two letters used to represent a single sound: `sh' in `shoe') initial - the first letter of a word (especially a person's name); "he refused to put the initials FRS after his name" a - the 1st letter of the Roman alphabet b - the 2nd letter of the Roman alphabet c - the 3rd letter of the Roman alphabet d - the 4th letter of the Roman alphabet e - the 5th letter of the Roman alphabet f - the 6th letter of the Roman alphabet g - the 7th letter of the Roman alphabet h - the 8th letter of the Roman alphabet i - the 9th letter of the Roman alphabet j - the 10th letter of the Roman alphabet k - the 11th letter of the Roman alphabet l - the 12th letter of the Roman alphabet m - the 13th letter of the Roman alphabet n - the 14th letter of the Roman alphabet o - the 15th letter of the Roman alphabet p - the 16th letter of the Roman alphabet q - the 17th letter of the Roman alphabet r - the 18th letter of the Roman alphabet s - the 19th letter of the Roman alphabet t - the 20th letter of the Roman alphabet u - the 21st letter of the Roman alphabet v - the 22nd letter of the Roman alphabet double-u, w - the 23rd letter of the Roman alphabet x, ex - the 24th letter of the Roman alphabet wye, y - the 25th letter of the Roman alphabet ezed, izzard, zed, zee, z - the 26th letter of the Roman alphabet; "the British call Z zed and the Scots call it ezed but Americans call it zee"; "he doesn't know A from izzard" alpha - the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet beta - the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet gamma - the 3rd letter of the Greek alphabet delta - the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet epsilon - the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet zeta - the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet eta - the 7th letter of the Greek alphabet theta - the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet iota - the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet kappa - the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet lambda - the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet mu - the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet nu - the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet xi - the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet omicron - the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet pi - the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet rho - the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet sigma - the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet tau - the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet upsilon - the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet phi - the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet khi, chi - the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet psi - the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet omega - the last (24th) letter of the Greek alphabet aleph - the 1st letter of the Hebrew alphabet beth - the 2nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet gimel - the 3rd letter of the Hebrew alphabet daleth - the 4th letter of the Hebrew alphabet
	3.	letter - owner who lets another person use something (housing usually) for hire owner, proprietor - (law) someone who owns (is legal possessor of) a business; "he is the owner of a chain of restaurants"
	4.	letter - a strictly literal interpretation (as distinct from the intention); "he followed instructions to the letter"; "he obeyed the letter of the law" literal interpretation - an interpretation based on the exact wording
	5.	letter - an award earned by participation in a school sport; "he won letters in three sports" varsity letter accolade, honor, laurels, honour, award - a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction; "an award for bravery"
Verb	1.	letter - win an athletic letter garner, earn - acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions
	2.	letter - set down or print with letters print, impress - reproduce by printing
	3.	letter - mark letters on or mark with letters write - mark or trace on a surface; "The artist wrote Chinese characters on a big piece of white paper"; "Russian is written with the Cyrillic alphabet"

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letter

noun 1. message, line, answer, note, reply, communication, dispatch, acknowledgment, billet (archaic) missive, epistle

noun 2. character, mark, sign, symbol to the letter precisely, strictly, literally, exactly, faithfully, accurately, word for word, punctiliously >> adjective epistolatory

Translations

letter [ˈlɛtəʳ] n [of alphabet] → letra (= correspondence); carta;

letters npl (= literature, learning) → letras fpl;

small/capital letter → minúscula/mayúscula;

covering letter → carta adjunta

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letter [ˈlɛtəʳ] n → lettre f;

letters npl (Literature) → lettres;

small/capital letter → minuscule f/majuscule f;

letter of credit → lettre f de crédit

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letter [ˈlɛtəʳ] n → Brief m [of alphabet] → Buchstabe m;

small/capital letter → Klein-/Großbuchstabe m

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letter [ˈlɛtəʳ] n → lettera;

letters npl (LITERATURE) → lettere;

small/capital letter → lettera minuscola/maiuscola;

letter of credit → lettera di credito;

documentary letter of credit → lettera di credito documentata