Etymologically
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email

Etymology and origin of the English word email

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1982
Ultimate origin
English (electronic mail)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈiː.meɪl/[1]

Etymology

It is a shortening of electronic mail,[2][3][4] first written e-mail,[2] from electronic and mail.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A system for sending messages between computers, or the messages so sent: 1982, short for electronic mail (1977).[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Hendrickson calls it an American abbreviation coined in the early 1980s.[6] It led to the contemptuous snail mail (1983) for the old postal system.[2][6] The verb, “to send by email”, is from 1987.[5] The spelling e-mail is still common, with E-mail and email as variants.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1977 – electronic mail.[2]
  • 1982 – email.[2][5]
  • 1983 – snail mail.[2]
  • 1987 – verb.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A system for sending and receiving messages electronically over a computer network.
  2. A message or messages sent by this system.

Verb

  1. To send a message to someone by email, or to send something by email.
  • mail
  • electronic
  • enamel
  • snail mail

Usage notes

An older email, from French émail “enamel”, was a kind of pottery decoration (1853) and occurs in email ink, for glass and porcelain.[2][5][3]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Email.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/email. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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