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Envelope vs Letter - What's the difference?

envelope | letter |

As nouns the difference between envelope and letter

is that envelope is a paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing while letter is a symbol in an alphabet.

As verbs the difference between envelope and letter

is that envelope is an alternative spelling of lang=en while letter is to print, inscribe, or paint letters on something.

envelope

English

Etymology 1

From the (etyl) enveloppe, from envelopper.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope , or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • Something that envelops; a wrapping.
  • A bag containing the lifting gas of a balloon or airship; fabric that encloses the gas-bags of an airship.
  • *
  • (geometry) A mathematical curve, surface, or higher-dimensional object that is the tangent to a given family of lines, curves, surfaces, or higher-dimensional objects.
  • (electronics) A curve that bounds another curve or set of curves, as the modulation envelope of an amplitude-modulated carrier wave in electronics.
  • (music) The shape of a sound, which may be controlled by a synthesizer or sampler.
  • (computing) The information used for routing an email that is transmitted with the email but not part of its contents.
  • (biology) An enclosing structure or cover, such as a membrane.
  • (engineering) The set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively.
  • (astronomy) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; a coma.
  • An earthwork in the form of a single parapet or a small rampart, sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it.
  • (Wilhelm)
    Derived terms
    * envelope detector * envelope paradox * envelope stuffer * padded envelope * push the envelope * return envelope * window envelope
    Synonyms
    * (something that envelops ): wrapper * (bag containing the lifting gas ): gasbag

    See also

    * *

    Etymology 2

    See (envelop).

    Verb

    (envelop)
  • (nonstandard)
  • ----

    letter

    English

    (wikipedia letter)

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) letter, lettre, from (etyl) letre, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A symbol in an alphabet.
  • * Bible, (w) xxiii. 38
  • And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew.
  • A written or printed communication, generally longer and more formal than a note.
  • * (1662-1708)
  • The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=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.}}
  • *
  • *: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’.
  • Literal meaning.
  • * (Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
  • We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • I broke the letter of it to keep the sense.
  • * 2009 , 23 February, BBC, Euro MP expenses 'can reach £1m'
  • Some MEPs from some countries may have pocketed £2m more than I have by observing the letter but not the spirit of the rules.
  • (plural) Literature.
  • A size of paper, 8½ in]] × 11 in (215.9 [[millimetre, mm × 279.4 mm, US paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm).
  • A size of paper, 215 mm × 280 mm.
  • A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.
  • * (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)
  • Under these buildingswas the king's printing house, and that famous letter so much esteemed.
    Synonyms
    * bookstave
    Hyponyms
    * epistle * missive
    Derived terms
    * accountant's letter * advisory letter * air letter * black letter * capital letter * chain letter * comfort letter * commercial letter of credit * cover letter * covering letter * crank letter * day letter * dead letter office * Dear John letter * deficiency letter * domincal letter * drop letter * encyclical letter * fan letter * form letter * four-letter/four-letter word * French letter * guarantee letter * investment letter * irrevocable letter of credit * letter blindness * letter bomb * letter bond * letter box * letter carrier * letter case * letter missive * letter of administration * letter of attorney * letter of comfort * letter of comment * letter of credence * letter of credit * letter of guarantee * letter of indemnity * letter of intent * Letter of Jeremiah * letter of marque * letter of motivation * letter of the law * letter opener * letter paper * letter perfect/letter-perfect * letter-quality * letter security * letter stock * letter telegram * letterform * letterhead * letterman * letterure * love letter * market letter * news letter/news-letter/newsletter * night letter * no-action letter * open letter * night letter * poison-pen letter * red letter * scarlet letter * sea letter * small letter * swash letter * to the letter * transmittal letter * varsity letter

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to print, inscribe, or paint letters on something.
  • (intransitive, US, scholastic) To earn a varsity letter (award).
  • Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who lets, or lets out.
  • the letter of a room
    a blood-letter
  • (archaic) One who retards or hinders.
  • Statistics

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