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Etymology and origin of the English word postcard

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1869 Manchester Guardian
Ultimate origins
Proto-Italic *po(r)sti-Old French carde
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin postis
English post
English postcard
From the same root
English postage ← post

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈpoʊstˌkɑɹd/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English post + card,[2][3][4][5][6] apparently first on the model of German Postkarte.[2] The post is the noun for the mail, and the card a piece of stiff paper.[2][5][3] The OED compares postal card, recorded from 1870.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A card of regulation size, marked to show that postage had been prepaid, to be sent by post without an envelope: 1869, in the Manchester Guardian.[2][4] Etymonline dates it to 1870, for a stamped card issued by the postal authorities for short messages at a cheaper rate than letters.[3]

Semantic evolution

The first postcards were official cards with the postage printed on them.[3][2] By 1894, according to Etymonline, the word was also used of private or unofficial cards of the same size, unstamped and often with a picture on one side,[3] the sense of the picture postcard.[5][4] The verb, to send news or to write to someone by postcard, followed in 1877, in a letter of Edward FitzGerald,[2][4] and an intransitive use, to send a postcard, in 1934.[2] Since 1924 the noun has also been used as an adjective for a place as pretty as one shown on a picture postcard.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 1869 – a prepaid card sent by post without an envelope.[2][4]
  • 1870 – first date in Etymonline.[3]
  • 1870 – the synonym postal card.[2][4]
  • 1877 – verb, to communicate with someone by postcard.[2]
  • 1894 – private or picture cards, according to Etymonline.[3]
  • 1924 – adjective, picturesque, like a picture postcard.[4]
  • 1934 – verb, intransitive, to send a postcard.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A card for sending a short message by mail without an envelope, usually with a picture on one side and room for the address and message on the other: She sent her aunt a postcard from Lisbon.[4][5][2]
  2. A card of this kind issued by a postal authority with the postage already printed on it.[4][2]

Verb

  1. To send a message to someone, or to tell someone something, by postcard.[4][2][5]
  2. To send a postcard.[2]

Adjective

  1. As pretty as a scene on a picture postcard; picturesque: a postcard harbour.[4][5]

Word family

  • postcardlike
  • picture postcard

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Postcard.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/postcard. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·