Letter
/ˈlɛtə/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA symbol in an alphabet.
nounA written or printed communication, usually defined as longer and more formal than a note. (Sometimes specifically one that is on paper.)
Sentence Examples
I have to write a letter. Do you have some paper?
Didn't you write a letter to him?
It was clear that the letter had deeply distressed her.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She placed the handwritten ____ inside an envelope and mailed it to her friend.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She received a long and heartfelt ____ from her best friend who had been traveling around Europe for months.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And a superscription also was written ouer him in letters of Greeke, and Latin, & Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE IEWES."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 23:38:
"The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural."
— 1692, William Walsh, “Preface”, in Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant:
"The magician gave this to the young man and said to him,“ Go at such an hour of the night and stand before a pagan tomb and call the demons, and throw the letter into the air, and immediately they will come to you.” And the young man called the devils and threw the letter into the air, and the prince of darkness came,[…]"
— 1892, P.A.C., edited by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke, Poet Lore: A Magazine of Letters, volume 4, New York, N.Y.: AMS Reprint Company, →OCLC, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s ‘Golden Legend’ and its Analogues, page 94:
"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."
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’."
— 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She placed the handwritten ____ inside an envelope and mailed it to her friend.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She received a long and heartfelt ____ from her best friend who had been traveling around Europe for months.