booklet

Etymology

It is formed from English book + -let, with the diminutive suffix.^[2][3][4] Book is from Old English bōc (“book, writing, written document”).^[3] The suffix comes from Old French -elet, which is often a double diminutive.^[3] The OED compares the earlier bookling.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small book: 1859, in the Saturday Review.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster gives 1856 as the first known use,^[5] and Dictionary.com dates it to 1855–60.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In later use the word came to mean especially a small, thin book with paper covers giving information on one subject.^[2][6] From 1900 a booklet was also a packet of postage stamps bound between paper or card covers like a small book.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1856 – first known use, according to Merriam-Webster.^[5]
• 1859 – a small book.^[2][3]
• 1900 – a stamp booklet.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, thin book, usually with paper covers; a pamphlet: a booklet on growing tomatoes.^[6][5][2]
2. A small book of postage stamps bound between paper or card covers.^[5][2]

Related words

• book
• bookling

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins