mail — letters and packages sent through a postal system
Part of speech: NOUN
Definition: letters and packages sent through a postal system
Pronunciation (IPA): /meɪl/
Example Sentences
- My dog ate my homework... and also my mail.
- I received an important mail from the university today.
- She forgot to mail her grandmother's birthday card and sent a pizza instead.
[/meɪl/]
letters and packages sent through a postal system
A mail carrier delivers letters and packages to neighborhood mailboxes
When the sail may fail, the mail must sail!
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🎤Pronunciation
🌳Etymology
Origin
The word originates from Middle French 'male', meaning a traveling bag or pouch. As postal carriers used these bags to transport letters, the term gradually shifted in meaning from the container itself to refer to the letters and parcels being carried.
Breakdown
male (bag, pouch) → mail (postal matter). The semantic shift reflects a common linguistic pattern where the name of a container becomes metonymically associated with its typical contents.
🎵Rhyme
🔗Collocations
📝Examples
“My dog ate my homework... and also my mail.”
“I received an important mail from the university today.”
“She forgot to mail her grandmother's birthday card and sent a pizza instead.”
“Please mail the documents to our office by Friday.”
📚Related Words
Synonyms
Antonyms
Related
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