Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Email /ee'mayl/ (also written `e-mail' and `E-mail') 1. n. Electronic mail automatically passed through computer networks and/or via modems over common-carrier lines. Contrast snail-mail, paper-net, voice-net. See network address. 2. vt. To send electronic mail. Oddly enough, the word `emailed' is actually listed in the OED; it means "embossed (with a raised pattern) or perh. arranged in a net or open work". A use from 1480 is given. The word is probably derived from French `e'maille'' (enameled) and related to Old French `emmailleu"re' (network). A French correspondent tells us that in modern French, `email' is a hard enamel obtained by heating special paints in a furnace; an `emailleur' (no final e) is a craftsman who makes email (he generally paints some objects (like, say, jewelry) and cooks them in a furnace). There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet traffic up to 1995, `email' predominates, `e-mail' runs a not-too-distant second, and `E-mail' and `Email' are a distant third and fourth. Source: Jargon File. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
E-mail, or email, is short for "electronic mail" (as opposed to conventional mail, in this context also called snail mail) and refers to composing, sending, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. Most e-mail systems today use the Internet, and e-mail is one of the most popular uses of the Internet.
E-mail before the Internet
Despite common belief, e-mail actually pre-dates the Internet; in fact, existing e-mail systems were a crucial tool in creating the Internet.
E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate; although the exact history is murky, among the first systems to have such a facility were SDC's Q32 and MIT's CTSS.
E-mail was quickly extended to become network e-mail, allowing users to pass messages between different computers. The early history of network e-mail is also murky; the AUTODIN system may have been the first allowing electronic text messages to be transferred between users on different computers, in 1966, but it is possible the SAGE system had something similar some time before.
The ARPANET computer network significantly increased the popularity of e-mail. There is one report [1] which indicates experimental inter-system e-mail transfers on it shortly after its creation, in 1969. The use of the "@" sign to separate the names of the user and their machine, was initiated by Ray Tomlinson in 1972; the common report that he "invented" email is an exaggeration, although his early e-mail programs SNDMSG and READMAIL were very important.
Since not all computers or networks were directly inter-networked, e-mail was forwarded between sites using protocols such as UUCP, and e-mail addresses had to include the "route" of the message, that is, a path between the computer of the sender and the computer of the receivers. E-mail could be passed this way between a number of networks, including the ARPANET, BITNET and NSFNET, as well as to hosts connected directly to other sites via UUCP.
The route was specified using so-call "bang path" addresses, specifying hops to get from some assumed-reachable location to the addressee, so called because each hop is signified by a "bang sign", i.e. Exclamation mark. Thus, for example, the path ...!bigsite!foovax!barbox!me directs people to route their mail to machine bigsite (presumably a well-known location accessible to everybody) and from there through the machine foovax to the account of user me on barbox.
Before auto-routing mailers became commonplace, people often published compound bang addresses using the { } convention (see glob) to give paths from several big machines, in the hopes that one's correspondent might be able to get mail to one of them reliably (example: ...!{seismo, ut-sally, ihnp4}!rice!beta!gamma!me). Bang paths of 8 to 10 hops were not uncommon in 1981. Late-night dial-up UUCP links would cause week-long transmission times. Bang paths were often selected by both transmission time and reliability, as messages would often get lost. See the network and sitename.
Modern internet e-mail
Nowadays, almost all e-mail is delivered directly to Internet-connected hosts, using DNS MX records and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Very few modern servers allow routing (automatic or manual) any more due the potential for abuse by people sending unsolicited bulk email. Those that do allow it are called open relayss.
A modern Internet e-mail address is a string of the form jsmith@corporation.com. It should be read as "jsmith at corporation.com". The first part is the username of the person, and the second part is the hostname of the computer in which that person has an e-mail account.
The format of internet e-mail messages is defined in RFC 2822. Prior to the introduction of RFC 2822 the format was described by RFC 822.
Internet e-mail messages typically consist of two major components:
The headers usually have at least four fields:
- Headers - Message summary, sender, receiver, and other information about the e-mail
- Body - The message itself, usually containing a signature block at the end
Note however that the "To" field does not necessarily have the email address of the recipient. The information supplied in the headers on the recipients computer is similar to that found on top of a conventional letter. The actual information such as who the message was addressed to is removed by the mail server after it assigns it to the correct user's mailbox.
- From - The e-mail address of the sender of the message
- To - The e-mail address of the receiver of the message
- Subject - A brief summary of the contents of the message
- Date - The local time and date when the message was originally sent
Other common fields include:
- Cc - Carbon copy (because typewriters used carbon film to copy what was written on them)
- Bcc - Blind carbon copy (the recipient of this copy will know who was in the To: field, but the recipients cannot see who is on the Bcc: list)
- Received - Tracking information generated by mail servers that have previously handled a message
- Content-Type - Information about how the message has to be displayed, usually a MIME type
Messages and mailboxes
Messages are exchanged between hosts using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol with software like Sendmail. Users download their messages from servers usually with either the POP or IMAP protocols, yet in a large corporate environment users are likely to use some proprietary protocol such as Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange Server's.
Mails can be stored either on the client or on the server side. Standard formats for mailboxes include Maildir and mbox. Several prominent e-mail clients use their own, proprietary format, and require conversion software to transfer email between them.
E-mail content encoding
E-mail is only defined to carry 7-bit ASCII messages. Although many e-mail transports are in fact "8-bit clean", this cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, e-mail has been extended by the MIME standard to allow the encoding of binary attachments including images, sounds and HTML attachments.
Spamming and e-mail worms
The usefulness of e-mail is being threatened by two phenomena, spamming and e-mail worms.
Spamming is unsolicited commercial e-mail. Because of the very low cost of sending e-mail, spammers can send hundreds of millions of e-mail messages each day over an inexpensive Internet connection. Hundreds of active spammers sending this volume of mail results in many computer users receiving tens or even hundreds of junk e-mails each day.
E-mail worms use e-mail as a way of replicating themselves into vulnerable computers. Although the first e-mail worm (the Morris worm) affected early UNIX computers, this problem is today almost entirely confined to the Microsoft Windows oprerating system.
The combination of spam and worm programs results in users receiving a constant drizzle of junk e-mail, which reduces the usefulness of E-mail as a practical tool.
A number of initiatives are under way to mitigate these problems: see the article stopping E-mail abuse.
Further Reading
See also:
- Katie Hafner, Matthew Lyon, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet (Simon and Schuster, 1996) also covers the early history of e-mail
- E-mail art
- E-mail social issues:
- netiquette
- Internet humor
- Internet slang
- spam
- virus.
- email client
- electronic mailing list
- mailing list archive
- webmail
- mail transfer agent
- e-mail address
- Hotmail.com
- computing
- branded email
External links
This article, or an earlier version, contains content derived from FOLDOC, used by permission.
- The History of Electronic Mail is a personal memoir by the implementer of one of the first e-mail systems
- Michael A. Padlipsky, And They Argued All Night... is an alternative personal recollection of the origins of network e-mail
- The First E-Mail Message is an article about the history of network e-mail; contains some errors
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "E-mail."
Crosswords: EMAIL |
| Specialty definitions using "EMAIL": address harvester ♦ brainwidth ♦ cybercrud ♦ fnord ♦ home machine ♦ mailbomb, munge ♦ NSA line eater ♦ offline, out-of-band ♦ P-mail ♦ read-only user, rib site ♦ SEMI-ANONYMOUS FTP, snail-mail, sorcerer's apprentice mode, spamblock ♦ The Microsoft Network, throwaway account ♦ UBE, UCE ♦ whitelist ♦ You know you've been hacking too long when, You know you've been hacking too long when.... (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "EMAIL" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Czech (enamel), Dutch (enamel), German (enamel), Indonesian (enamel), Romanian (enamel, varnish, veneer), Spanish (e-mail). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | Personalize your email address (LOVE IS IN CONTROL; performing artist: Donna Summer) You're more than welcome to email me back (I Hope You Dance; performing artist: LEE AN WOMACK) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
High Tech |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Old Building Newcastle 2" by Salina Hainzl Commentary: "Please email me on whizzyhainzl@yahoo.co.nz if you are going to download my pics - would like to know whether there is anyone out there like these pics. <br>They were taken in Newcastle, NSW, Australia with my new toy Coolpix 5700. <br>It is a" | "Cherries" by Hana Matz Commentary: "I was eating some cherries and messing around with my camera and I came up with this. I'd love to see what you do with this! Email me: gurlzonemagazine@aol.com ." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | During the question and answer period following the main presentation and via email afterwards, participants were able to ask the panel detailed questions. (references) | |
Business | The function of their second-generation product includes Internet, email, stock trading and video IP telephone. (references) | |
Among them, Premium World, PrimaCom, and Munich Cable TV offer similar TV services with email retrieval and e-commerce capabilities. (references) | ||
The features of a set-top box in China include an Internet browser, Email service, on-line shopping, on-line stock trading and network customization. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Cuba | Email use is growing slowly as the Government incrementally allows access to more users; however, the Government generally controls its use, and only very few persons or groups have access. (references) |
Russia | Access appears to be unrestricted, but the Government requires Internet service providers to provide dedicated lines to the security establishment so that police can track private email communications and monitor activity on the Internet. (references) | |
Economic History | Japan | Frequent communication by fax, email or phone is crucial. (references) |
Travel | Venezuela | Most correspondence is done by fax or email. (references) |
Honduras | The Honduran Embassy's email address is embhondu@aol.com. (references) | |
Turkey | Email and faxes are widely used in international business. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "EMAIL" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 68.97% of the time. "EMAIL" is used about 29 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 68.97% | 20 | 78,262 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 17.24% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 6.9% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.9% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 29 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Australia | Email Limited | Austria | Austria Email AG |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expression using "EMAIL": email Quotes and Inclusion Conventions. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "EMAIL": fax-email. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
yahoo email | 214,162 | bulk email | 1,588 |
| 48,878 | check email | 1,492 | |
free email | 19,401 | msn email | 1,470 |
email address | 13,271 | verizon email | 1,382 |
email service | 6,835 | free email greeting card | 1,130 |
email search | 6,753 | my own email | 1,101 |
email provider | 6,419 | email greeting card | 1,020 |
aol email | 4,251 | free email service | 1,007 |
email card | 3,887 | email list | 998 |
hotmail email | 3,694 | email filter | 959 |
free email card | 3,054 | email lookup | 831 |
email services | 2,905 | email account | 792 |
email finder | 2,782 | email birthday card | 781 |
find email address | 2,757 | email address finder | 711 |
email directory | 2,286 | funny email | 700 |
free email account | 2,249 | email virus | 697 |
free email address | 2,026 | web email | 685 |
email marketing | 1,856 | business email | 685 |
email software | 1,657 | hotmail free email | 643 |
email address search | 1,596 | free email yahoo | 627 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "EMAIL"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 電郵 , 電子郵件 (electronic mail), 电子邮件. (various references) | |
Danish | elektronisk post (ECOM, electronic computer originated mail, electronic mail, teleimpression), databoks (electronic mail). (various references) | |
Dutch | elektronische post (electronic mail), telemail (electronic mail). (various references) | |
Finnish | sähköposti (electronic mail, e-mail). (various references) | |
French | courrier électronique. (various references) | |
German | Epost, elektronischer Postverkehr (electronic mail), elektronische Post (electronic mail), elektronische Briefpost (electronic mail), elektronische Briefübermittlung (electronic mail), Telebriefdienst (electronic mail). (various references) | |
Greek | EMS (electronic mail, element management system), σύστημα ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου (electronic mail), ηλεκτρονικό ταχυδρομείο (e-mail). (various references) | |
Italian | posta elettronica (e-mail), messaggi elettronici (electronic mail). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 架電 (telephone call, telephone conversation). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | かでん (consumer electronics, electric charge, family history, melon field or patch, miscommunication, mistaken account, slash-and-burn agriculture, telephone call, telephone conversation). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | emailay.(various references) | |
Russian | электронная почта (e-mail). (various references) | |
Spanish | servicio de correo electrónico (electronic mail), correo electrónico (electronic mail, e-mail). (various references) | |
Swedish | e-post (electronic mail, e-mail). (various references) | |
Welsh | ehebu, eheb. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "EMAIL": emailed, emailing, emails. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "EMAIL": remail. (additional references) | |
Words containing "EMAIL": remailed, remailing, remails. (additional references) | |
| |
"EMAIL" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Admail, amial, Amoxil, Eagil, eai, eamy, eaul, Elavil, Elmali, Elmariel, ema, emaid, emaille, emain, emaix, emari, Emaux, emay, Emdale, emeli, Emelia, Emelie, emhain, Emili, emim, emip, emni, emoil, Engai, enhail, eniac, enil, enjail, Enlil, enzil, Eraill, Etaul, evail, exai, femail, Jemayl, Kemali, megali, meial, metail, omai, Qemal, remail, smial, vmail. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: maile. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-l-m" | |
-1 letter: alme, amie, ilea, lame, lima, lime, mail, male, meal, mile. | |
-2 letters: ail, aim, ale, ami, elm, lam, lea, lei, lie, mae, mel, mil. | |
-3 letters: ae, ai, al, am, el, em, la, li, ma, me, mi. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-l-m" | |
+1 letter: emails, hiemal, impale, lambie, lamiae, mailed, mailer, mailes, malice, maline, mallei, mealie, medial, menial, mesial, milage, remail, samiel. | |
+2 letters: ailment, aimless, alembic, aliment, alumine, amiable, armlike, balmier, beamily, bimetal, camelia, cembali, claimed, claimer, climate, decimal, declaim, dilemma, emailed, exclaim, flamier, geminal, gremial, hemiola, imblaze, impaled, impaler, impales, impanel, impearl, implead, inflame, lambier, lambies, laminae, lehayim, lempira, limbate, limeade, lineman, loamier, mailers, mailmen, malaise, malefic, malices, malines, malmier, maltier, manille, maniple, manlier, manlike, maplike, marlier, marline, marlite, mealier, mealies, meatily, medials, medical, melanic, melanin, melisma, melodia, menials, metical, miauled, micella, milages, mileage, millage, minable, mineral, miracle, misdeal, mislead, mixable, mycelia, palmier, ramilie, realism, reclaim, remails, samiels, seismal, seminal, timbale. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Synonyms 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Company Usage 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
