email

English Online Dictionary. What means email‎? What does email mean?

English

Etymology 1

The noun is an abbreviation of electronic mail. First attested in the 1970s. The verb is derived from the noun, by analogy with mail (“to send through the mail”).

Alternative forms

• e-mail

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈiːmeɪl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈiˌmeɪl/
• Rhymes: -iːmeɪl

Noun

email (countable and uncountable, plural emails) (computing)

2. (uncountable) A system for sending messages and datas by means of computers connected together in a network.

   Synonym: mail

   Antonyms: mail, post, snail mail

4. (uncountable) The quantity of messages sent through an email system.

   Synonym: mail

   Antonyms: mail, post, snail mail

6. (countable) A message being sent through email.

   Synonym: mail

   Antonym: mailpiece

8. (countable, informal) An email address.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

email (third-person singular simple present emails, present participle emailing, simple past and past participle emailed)

1. (transitive) To send an email or emails to.

2. (transitive, ditransitive) To send (data) through email.

3. (intransitive) To send, or compose and then send, one or more emails.

Translations

See also

• webmail

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French email, from Old French esmal (“enamel”) (modern French émail (“enamel; vitreous enamel; glaze (coating on pottery)”)), from Medieval Latin smaltum (“enamel”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“to melt; to soften”). Doublet of smalt, smalto, and schmaltz.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ĕ-mālʹ, IPA^(key): /ɛˈmeɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Noun

email (plural emails)

1. (obsolete, rare) Enamel (“an opaque, glossy coating”).

Alternative forms

• emayle

Derived terms

• email ink
• emailled (adjective)

Related terms

• email ombrant

References

Further reading

• email on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• maile, Lamie, Melia, ameli

Catalan

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English email.

Noun

email m (plural emails)

1. email

   Synonym: correu

Chinese

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English email.

Pronunciation

Noun

email

1. email (message) (Classifier: 封 c)

Synonyms

• 電郵／电邮 (diànyóu)

Verb

email

1. to email (to send email to) (Classifier: 封 c)

Synonyms

• 電郵／电邮 (diànyóu)

Etymology 2

Phono-semantic matching of Mandarin 疫苗 (yìmiáo, “vaccine”).

Pronunciation

Noun

email

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, neologism, humorous or sarcastic) vaccine; inoculation

Czech

Alternative forms

• e-mail

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛmaɪl]

Noun

email m inan

1. enamel
2. (informal) email (electronic communication)

Usage notes

Some institutions discourage this spelling of electronic communication in favor of e-mail.

Declension

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French émail, from Old French esmal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːˈmɑi̯/
• Hyphenation: email

Noun

email n (uncountable)

1. enamel

   Synonym: emaus

2. (heraldry) tincture

Derived terms

• emailleren

Related terms

• emaus
• smalt
• smelten

Etymology 2

From e-mail.

Noun

email m (plural emails, diminutive emailtje n)

1. nonstandard spelling of e-mail

Anagrams

• maile

French

Alternative forms

• e-mail, E-mail

Etymology

Borrowed from English email.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.mɛl/, /i.mɛjl/

Noun

email m (plural emails)

1. (informal, anglicism) email

   Synonyms: courriel, courrier électronique, mail

See also

• émail

Anagrams

• maile, mailé, mêlai

Hungarian

Etymology

From French émail, from Old French esmal, from Frankish *smalt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛmɒjil], [ˈɛmaːj], [ˈɛmaːjl]
• Hyphenation: email

Noun

email (usually uncountable, plural emailok)

1. enamel, glaze (an opaque, glassy coating baked onto metal or ceramic objects)

   Synonym: zománc

2. enamel (the hard covering on the exposed part of a tooth)

   Synonym: fogzománc

Declension

Derived terms

See also

• e-mail

References

• Laczkó, Krisztina with Attila Mártonfi (2006) Helyesírás [Orthography], Budapest: Osiris Kiadó, →ISBN

Further reading

• email in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• email in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Italian

Noun

email m or f (invariable)

1. email

   Synonym: e-mail

Derived terms

• emailare

Anagrams

• amile, malie

Romanian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French émail.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈma.il/

Noun

email n (plural emailuri)

1. enamel

Declension

Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from English email.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈmejl/

Noun

email n (plural emailuri)

1. email

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈimeil/ [ˈi.mei̯l]
• Rhymes: -imeil

Noun

email m (plural emails)

1. email
2. email address

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.