different between letter vs codeword

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l?t?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?l?t?/, /-??/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?let?(?)/, /-??(?)/
• Rhymes: -?t?, -?t?(r), -?t?(?)
• Hyphenation: let?ter

Etymology 1

From Middle English letter, lettre, from Old French letre, from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet"; in plural, "epistle”), from Etruscan, from Ancient Greek ??????? (diphthér?, “tablet”). Displaced native Middle English bocstaf, bookstave (“letter, alphabetic symbol”) (from Old English b?cstæf (“alphabetic symbol, written character”)), Middle English bocrune, bocroune (“letter, written character”) (from Old English b?c (“book”) + r?n (“letter, rune”)), Middle English writrune, writroune (“letter, document”) (from Old English writ (“letter, epistle”) + r?n (“letter, rune”)), Old English ?rendb?c (“letter, message”), Old English ?rend?ewrit (“letter, written message”). Doublet of diphtheria.

Alternative forms

• lettre (obsolete)

Noun

letter (plural letters)

1. A symbol in an alphabet.

   • And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew.

2. A written or printed communication, generally longer and more formal than a note.
   • 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’.

3. The literal meaning of something, as distinguished from its intended and remoter meaning (often contrasted with the spirit).
4. (plural) Literature.

5. (law) A division unit of a piece of law marked by a letter of the alphabet.

6. (US, uncountable) A size of paper, 8½ in × 11 in (215.9 mm × 279.4 mm, US paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm).
7. (Canada, uncountable) A size of paper, 215 mm × 280 mm.
8. (US, scholastic) Clipping of varsity letter.
9. (printing, dated) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.

Synonyms

• (written character/alphabetic symbol): bookstaff/bookstave

Hyponyms

• epistle
• missive

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

letter (third-person singular simple present letters, present participle lettering, simple past and past participle lettered)

1. (transitive) To print, inscribe, or paint letters on something.
2. (intransitive, US, scholastic) To earn a varsity letter (award).

Translations

Etymology 2

let +? -er.

Alternative forms

• lettor

Noun

letter (plural letters)

1. One who lets, or lets out.

2. (archaic) One who retards or hinders.

Translations

Further reading

• letter on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• letter (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• letter in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• letter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• lettre, tetrel

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch letter, from Middle Dutch lettere, from Old French lettre, from Latin littera.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?.t?r/

Noun

letter (plural letters, diminutive lettertjie)

1. letter (letter of the alphabet)

Derived terms

• hoofletter
• letterkunde

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch lettere, from Old French lettre, from Latin littera.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?.t?r/
• Hyphenation: let?ter
• Rhymes: -?t?r

Noun

letter f (plural letters, diminutive lettertje n)

1. letter (letter of the alphabet)
2. (obsolete) letter (written message)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: letter
• ? Indonesian: leter
• ? Japanese: ???? (retteru)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Verb

letter

1. present of lette

Etymology 2

Noun

letter m

1. indefinite plural of lett (non-standard since 2005)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

letter m

1. indefinite plural of lett (non-standard since 2012)

Swedish

Noun

letter

1. indefinite plural of lett

English

Etymology

code +? word

Noun

codeword (plural codewords)

1. (cryptography) A string representing an encoded piece of text.

   Bob cannot get any information out of the codeword since he doesn't know what transmission bases Alice used.

2. A word or phrase (or by extension a concept) used to make a (concealed) reference to another word or concept.
   • 1993, The Economist:

     Even the most virtuous concepts were scrutinised by governments eager to interpret them as codewords for something unwelcome.

   • 2007, Rough Guides, The Rough Guide to the Energy Crisis, Rough Guides UK (?ISBN), page 194:

     El Niño has hit the headlines as a codeword for bad weather, especially in the Pacific and California. But there is a little more to it than that.

   • 2013, Paul Vallely, Pope Francis: Untying the Knots, A&C Black (?ISBN), page 379:

     The Catholic Church has had problems in the past with fluid notions of gender, most particularly at the United Nations where some groups have used gender as a codeword for reproductive health rights which are deemed to include abortion.

3. A type of crossword puzzle where the letters of the alphabet are represented by numbers and the solver must identify them by their position and frequency.

Derived terms

• pseudocodeword

Translations

See also

• alphametic
• cryptarithm