let-ter / ˈledər
noun
1. a symbol, either written or printed, which represents a speech sound and is a unit of an alphabet It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' Fred Rogers, 1928-2003 2. a written or printed message addressed and sent to someone The word that is heard perishes, but the letter that is written remains. Traditional Proverb 3. plural, literature A man of letters, merely by reading a phrase, can estimate exactly the literary merit of its author. from ‘Swann’s Way’ by Marcel Proust, 1871-1922 4. actual wording; literal meaning Only a fool permits the letter of the law to override the spirit in the heart. Rod Stewart, 1945- 5. sometimes plural, an emblem containing the initial of a school or organization which is given to a student or member for some achievement It mattered to me that I do well, that I impress people with the empty signs of my ambition: good grades, varsity letters, awards for whatever it was they were judging us on that week. from ‘The Locked Room’ by Paul Auster, 1947- verb 1. to inscribe or mark with symbols from the alphabet When I am grown up I shall carry a notebook – a fat book with many pages, methodically lettered. Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941