UK /ˈiːmeɪl/ · US /ˈiˌmeɪl/ noun, verb
Forms emails emailing emailed e-mail emayle
- noun (uncountable) A system for sending messages and datas by means of a computer network, primarily the Internet, using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and the Internet Message Format. “He sent me his details via email.”
- noun (uncountable) The quantity of messages sent through an email system. “I am searching through my old email.”
- noun (countable) A message being sent through email. “He sent me an email last week to remind me about the meeting.”
- noun (countable, informal) An email address. “What’s your email?”
- verb (transitive) To send an email or emails to. “She emailed me last week, asking about the status of the project.”
- verb (transitive, ditransitive) To send (data) through email. “I’ll email you the link.”
- verb (intransitive) To send, or compose and then send, one or more emails. “Most teenagers seem to spend almost the whole day emailing and surfing the Web.”
- noun (obsolete, rare) Enamel (“an opaque, glossy coating”).
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
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”).
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.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “email”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details