Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definitions: Despatch |
DespatchNoun1. An official report (usually sent in haste). 2. The property of being prompt and efficient; "it was done with dispatch". 3. The murder or execution of someone. 4. The act of sending off something. Verb1. Send off promptly. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "despatch" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Publishing & Graphic Arts | The foreign correspondent. . . should be an effective writer, because his style contributes to the force of appeal made by his dispatches. Source: European Union. (references) |
Shipping | An incentive payment paid to a carrier to loading and unloading the cargo faster than agreed. Usually negotiated only in charter parties. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: DespatchSynonyms: communique (n), expedition (n), expeditiousness (n), shipment (n), dispatch (v), send off (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Activity | Nimbleness, agility; smartness, quickness; Adjective: velocity; alacrity, promptitude; despatch, dispatch; expedition; haste; punctuality; (early). |
Command | Despatch, dispatch; message, direction, injunction, charge, instructions; appointment, fixture. |
Completion | Noun: completion, accomplishment, achievement, fulfillment; performance, execution; despatch, dispatch; consummation, culmination; finish, conclusion; close; (end); terminus; (arrival); winding up; finale, denouement, catastrophe, issue, upshot, result; final touch, last touch, crowning touch, finishing touch, finishing stroke; last finish, coup de grace; crowning of the edifice; coping-stone, keystone; missing link; superstructure, ne plus ultra, work done, fait accompli. |
Despatch, dispatch; knock off, finish off, polish off; make short work of; dispose of, set at rest; perform, discharge, fulfill, realize; put in practice, put in force; carry out, carry into effect, carry into execution; make good; be as good as one's word. | |
Conduct | Verb: transact, execute; despatch, dispatch; proceed with, discharge; carry on, carry through, carry out, carry into effect, put into effect; work out; go through, get through; enact; put into practice; do; officiate. |
Correspondence | Noun: correspondence, letter, epistle, note, billet, post card, missive, circular, favor, billet-doux; chit, chitty, letter card, picture post card; postal, card; despatch; dispatch; bulletin, these presents; rescript, rescription; post; (messenger). |
Ejection | Verb: give exit, give vent to; let out, give out, pour out, squeeze out, send out; dispatch, despatch; exhale, excern, excrete; embogue; secrete, secern; extravasate, shed, void, evacuation; emit; open the sluices, open the floodgates; turn on the tap; extrude, detrude; effuse, spend, expend; pour forth; squirt, spirt, spurt, spill, slop; perspire; (exude); breathe, blow; (wind). |
Food | Verb: eat, feed, fare, devour, swallow, take; gulp, bolt, snap; fall to; despatch, dispatch; discuss; take down, get down, gulp down; lay in, tuck in; lick, pick, peck; gormandize; bite, champ, munch, cranch, craunch, crunch, chew, masticate, nibble, gnaw, mumble. |
Haste | Noun: haste, urgency; despatch, dispatch; acceleration, spurt, spirt, forced march, rush, dash; speed, velocity; precipitancy, precipitation, precipitousness; Adjective: impetuosity; brusquerie; hurry, drive, scramble, bustle, fuss, fidget, flurry, flutter, splutter. |
Killing | Verb: kill, put to death, slay, shed blood; murder, assassinate, butcher, slaughter, victimize, immolate; massacre; take away life, deprive of life; make away with, put an end to; despatch, dispatch; burke, settle, do for. |
News | Word, advice, aviso, message; dispatch, despatch; telegram, cable, marconigram, wire, communication, errand, embassy. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Despatch |
| Specialty definitions using "despatch": anti-rusting composition ♦ basing point ♦ Harikiri ♦ reasonable despatch clause. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Flying Despatch (1912) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co.Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | U.S.S. Despatch.Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | New cars, Merchants Despatch Transportation Co.Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | Blacksmith shop, Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co. [Company].Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | Machine shop, Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co. [Company].Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | The Woodmill, Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co.Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | Pan-American Exhibition Car. Exhibition Merchants. Despatch Transportation Co.Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | Exchanged (Union) Prisoners on board the liza Hancox [sic] (Colonel Mulford) Despatch boat--Cheering the Stars & Stripes.Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | Taking a despatch bearer near Chancellorsville.Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | David Higgins great play, The secret despatch.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | The equipment and personnel necessary to ensure the despatch and transport of the products of the mines and their accessories and subsidiaries, as well as the carriage of workmen and employees, will be provided by the local railway administration of the Basin. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John Adams | 1797-1801 | A representative assembly, although extremely well qualified, and absolutely necessary, as a branch of the legislative, is unfit to exercise the executive power, for want of two essential properties, secrecy and despatch. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Despatch" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 77.13% of the time. "Despatch" is used about 293 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) | 77.13% | 226 | 20,021 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 18.43% | 54 | 46,184 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 3.07% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.37% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 293 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "despatch": despatch clerk ♦ despatch department ♦ despatch goods ♦ despatch note ♦ despatch rider ♦ despatch route ♦ despatch service ♦ reasonable despatch clause ♦ with despatch. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "despatch": despatch-boat, despatch-box, despatch-case, despatch-riders, despatch-riding. | |
| 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 |
despatch | 32 |
despatch oven | 11 |
despatch industry | 8 |
despatch louis post st | 4 |
despatch richmond times | 3 |
air despatch | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "despatch"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | dërgim (consignment, dispatch, expedition, remittance, sending, shipment), dërgoj (cable, consign, delegate, deliver, detach, direct, dispatch, refer, relegate, send, send off, set forth, set off, transmit), largoj (avert, avoid, brush away, brush off, call off, cast out, dislodge, dismiss, dispatch, dispel, divert, eliminate, estrange, freeze out, keep away, keep off, lead off, lift out, pack off, push aside, push away, push off, put off, relegate, remove, seclude, stave off, take away, turn, wean, whiffle), bëj shpejt (dispatch, expedite, tear off), ha (chamfer, consume, demolish, dispatch, eat, eat away, elide, erode, feed, ingest, shark), heq qafe (close out, disembarrass, dispatch, dispense with, dispose of, ditch, doff, dump, make away with oneself, put off), i jap duart (dispatch), i jap goditjen e fundit (dispatch), agjenci transporti mallrash (dispatch), kryej (accomplish, achieve, act, carry out, carry through, commit, discharge, dispatch, do, effect, effectuate, execute, face it out, fill, fulfil, fulfill, perfect, perform, process, prosecute, put through, wage), vrasje (battue, dispatch, homicide, kill, killing, murder, sleep), mbaroj (be over, call it a day, cease, close, decline, die, dispatch, do, drink up, eat up, end, finish, get through, go out, lapse, perish, peter out, spend, surcease, terminate, wind up), mesazh (cable, dispatch, message), nis (begin, break, bring, commence, dispatch, enter, enter on, get, get round, initiate, lead off, open, originate, rise, send, send on, start, take up), nisje (blastoff, commencement, departure, dispatch, farewell, initiation, lift off, offset, outset, parting, sailing, start), njoftim (advertisement, announcement, annunciation, banns, blurb, cry, data, dispatch, information, knowledge, message, news, note, notice, notification, placard, proclamation, report, service, tidings, tip off), përzë (cut out, dispatch, Hunt, oust), shpejtësi (career, celerity, dispatch, flow, haste, legerity, lick, momentum, pace, promptitude, quickness, rapidity, rate, speed, swiftness, tearing hurry, velocity), vras (assassinate, bag, bruise, bump off, damage, dispatch, do away with, drop, finish, finish off, get, hurt, injure, kill, Lynch, make away with oneself, murder, poniard, put the sword, puzzle, shoot, slay, stab, stone to death, waste, zap), informacion (data, dispatch, dope, information, inquiry, light, material). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | قتل (assassinate, assassination, bag, butcher, croak, death, dispatch, do in, end, finish, fire, homicide, immolate, kill, killing, knock off, lay out, manslaughter, murder, poleaxe, procure, put down, put to death, shoot, slay, take for a ride), وفد (delegation, deputation, dispatch, legation, mission, send, send off), سرعة (alacrity, blast, career, dispatch, expedition, gait, haste, hastiness, hurry, lick, pace, pizzazz, promptitude, promptness, quickness, rapidity, smartness, speed, spurt, swiftness, tilt, velocity), إيفاد (dispatch, send off), إنجاز (accomplishment, achievement, dispatch, execution, fulfillment, fulfilment, implementation, implementing, performance, realization), إرسال (dispatch, expedition, posting, radio, send, send off, sending away, signalling, transmission), أعدم (be executed, dispatch, execute, guillotine, hang out, put to death, shoot, string up, swing), أرسل قوات (dispatch), أرسل بسرعة (dispatch, rush), رسالة إخبراية (dispatch), رسالة (bill, brief, dispatch, epistle, letter, message, mission, missive, tractate, treatise, writing), بعث (bundle, cast, dispatch, forward, hand, hand over, mission, reanimate, recall, regenerate, regeneration, renaissance, restoration, resurrect, resurrection, rise, risen, rising, send, send in, telegram), برقية (cable, cablegram, dispatch, telegram, telegraph, wire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | изпращане (delegation, dispatch, send off, shipment). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 派遣 (Dispatched, Dispatching). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | depeše (dispatch), zpráva (account, advice, call, communication, dispatch, intimation, item, message, news, notice, report, statement, tidings, word), vyslat (depute, deputize, dispatch, send, send forth), vypravit (dispatch, fit out, pack off), sprovodit ze svìta (dispatch), rychlost (celerity, dispatch, gear, pace, quickness, rapidity, speed, speediness, swiftness, tempo, velocity), rychle odbýt (dispatch), pohotovost (alert, aptitude, dispatch, readiness, trim), odpravit (destroy, dispatch, put to death), odeslat (dispatch, draw out, forward, remit, send, send off, transmit), odeslání (dispatch, remittance), expedovat (consign, dispatch), expedice (despatch department, dispatch, dispatch department). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | rimelig ekspeditionsklausul (reasonable despatch clause), fremskynde afsendelsen (to accelerate despatch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | verzending bespoedigen (to accelerate despatch), clausule van verplicht snel handelen (reasonable despatch clause). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kohtuullista toimintanopeutta vaativa lauseke (reasonable despatch clause). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | dépêche. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | senden (be on the air, beam, broadcast, dispatch, mailed, make, put out, rail, route, screen, send, ship, to broadcast, to transmit, transmit). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μήνυμα (communication, dispatch, message, missive), φονεύω (destroy, dispatch, kill, murder, slaughter, slay, slew), επισπεύδω (accelerate, dispatch, expedite, hasten, hie, hurry, precipitate, railroad, speed), επιστολή (dispatch, epistle, letter, missive), άγγελμα (announcement, annunciation, dispatch, message), αποστέλλω (consign, depurate, dispatch, send, send off for, ship). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לשלוח (consign, drive out, send, transfer, transmit), ל"ריץ (expedite, make run, run), תש"ורת (broadcast, communication, dispatch, message), שלוח (dismissal, launching, send off, sending away), אש'ר (consignment), א'רת (deed, dispatch, document, edict, epistle, letter, lettercard, missive, note, writ). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | sietség (diligence, dispatch, expedience, expediency, haste, hurry, hustle, scurry, scuttle, tearing hurry, trepidancy, trepidation, trepidity), sürgöny (cable, dispatch, telegram, telegraph message), jelentés (application, application report, connotation, denotation, dispatch, import, meaning, memorandum, purport, report, sense, significance), elküldés (consignment, dispatch, getting off, sending, sending away, shipment). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | disbrigo (despatching, dispatch, dispatching, settlement), dispaccio (dispatch, mail), invio (consignation, dispatch, forwarding, mailing, remittance, sending, submission), celerit (celerity, dispatch, expedition, swiftness), esecuzione (dispatch, execute, execute cycle, execution, execution cycle, fulfillment, fulfilment, machine run, operation, performance, program run, programme run, rendering, run), espletare (dispatch), bollettino militare (dispatch), inviare (direct, dispatch, forward, post, remit, send, send in), uccidere (bump off, commit suicide, dispatch, get killed, kill, kill oneself, liquidate, murder, slay, to kill), liquidare (clear, disburse, dispatch, get rid of, kill, liquidate, pay, pay off, sell off, settle, to convert into cash, to convert into money, to liquidate, to turn into cash, to turn into money, wind up), mandare (commit, consign, dispatch, drive, drop, emit, forward, get, give off, let out, send, send off, send out, sent, to send, transmit, utter), messaggio (address, dispatch, embassy, errand, message, notice, prompt), sbrigare (be quick, dispatch, finish off, get through, hurry up, polish off), spedire (consign, dispatch, forward, freights, mail, pack off, send, send on, ship, to dispatch, to forward, to send), spedizione (consignment, dispatch, dispatching, expedition, forwarding, forwarding agency, posting, programme, remittance, sending, shipment, shipping, transmission), evadere (bilk, dispatch, escape, evade, get away, run away). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 파견 (Delegating, Detaching, Dispatch, Dispatching). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | espatchday despacho (adroitness, by law, clearing, decree, dispatch, expedition, judgment, knack, mandarin, order, resourcefulness), despachar (bill, book, cashier, dispatch, expedite, forward, freight car, send, send off, ship, speed), rapidez (celerity, dispatch, expedition, fastness, legerity, promptitude, quickness, rapidity, readiness, speed, velocity), prontidão (address, dispatch, expedition, haste, leggings, promptitude, readiness), missiva (dispatch, letter, missive), matar (bump off, butcher, close out, destroy, dispatch boat, do in, kill, liquidate, murder, quench, rub out, shoot, slaughter, slay, sticking, to kill, to stick), liquidar (acquit, close out, defray, dispatch, knock off, liquidate, pay, pay homage to, pay off, pay up, rub out, satisfy, sell out, settle), expedir (dispatch, emit, expedite, forward, issue, send, ship), expedição (delivery, dispatch, expedition, mail, ploy, sending, shipment, shipping, transport), executar (achieve, carry out, consummate, dispatch, effect, execute, fulfill, fulfilled, implement, obey, paint a rosier picture, perform), envio (dispatch, remittance), enviar (commit, consign, dispatch, forward, Frankfurter, mail, refer, send, send off, to send, transmit), eficiência (dispatch, efficiency, metal removing efficiency, operating efficiency, stock removing efficiency, sufficiency), consignar (address, bill, commit, consign, devote, dispatch, send). (various references) buletin de trimitere (despatch note). (various references) официальное донесение (dispatch), отправка (dispatch, shipment), быстрота (agileness, agility, celerity, dispatch, expedition, legerity, promptitude, promptness, quickness, rapidity, rapidness, rate, speed, swiftness, velocity), посылать (bunt, delegate, dispatch, refer, send, sends, sent, tender, transmit), депеша (dispatch, message). (various references) depeša (dispatch, telegram), pogubljenje (dispatch, execution), pogubiti (dispatch, execute, put to death), otpremiti (dispatch, relegate, ship), otpremanje (dispatch, relegation, shipping), odaslati, odašiljanje. (various references) despacho (adjustment of average, average adjustment, average statement, chamber, clearance, demand, den, dispatch, mail, office, place of business, sale, shop, study), despachar (attend to, conclude, dismiss, dispatch, dispose of, expedite, finish, sack, see to, send, send off, serve, settle, ship, toss off, transmit, turn away), despabilar (dispatch, sharpen, snuff), remitir (dispatch, refer, refer back, remit), prontitud (alacrity, dispatch, promptitude, promptness, quickness, rapidity, rapidness, readiness, speed, speeding, velocity), paso (advance, advances, clearing, crossing, culvert, deed, dispatch, doorway, drawing, dried, duct, entrée, exaltation, foot walk, footfall, footprint, footstep, fullness, fulness, gait, gangway, gate, gulf, gut, hangar, ignorance, jars, jaunt, lead, line, making land, move, movement, narrows, overtaking, pace, pass, passage, passageway, passing, path, pitch, progress, shooting, spacing, stair, step, Strait, straits, stride, tack, thoroughfare, track, transition, tread, walk, walkout, wheel track, wheelbase), parte (allotment, bit, Cantel, Cantle, communique, component, crumb, deal, detail, device, dial, dispatch, district, doormat, element, end, episode, faction, fragmemt, granule, kernel, lieu, lot, part, Parthian, partition, party, patch, percentage, piece, place, point, portion, proportion, quantum, report, role, section, share, side, slice, some, spot, substance, the part, way, whack), muerte (death, decease, demise, departure, dispatch, doom, murder, passing, quietus), mensaje (dispatch, errand, letter, message), enviar (consign, dismiss, dispatch, envoy, extend, forward, remit, send, send away, send off, ship, tap out, transmit, turn away), envío (consignment, cross reference, dispatch, journey, mailing, reference, remittance, sending, shipment, shipping), ejecución (achievement, decimation, discharge, dispatch, enforcement, execution, hanging, implementation, machine run, performance, pursuance, rendition, run), consignar (consign, dispatch, record, state), consignación (consignment, dispatch, journey), comunicado (communique, dispatch, notice, release). (various references) avsända (dispatch, post, posting, send off). (various references) gönderi (consignment). (various references) sự sai phái đi sự đánh chết tươi (dispatch), sự khẩn trương (dispatch), sự khử (dispatch), sự kết liễu cuộc đời sự giải quyết nhanh gọn (dispatch), sự giết đi (dispatch), bản thông báo hãng vận tải h ng hoá (dispatch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | missum, missus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "despatch": despatched, despatches, despatching. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-e-h-p-s-t" | |
-1 letter: hepcats, heptads, patched, patches, scathed, spathed. | |
-2 letters: adepts, aspect, cadets, cashed, chapes, chased, chaste, cheaps, cheats, deaths, depths, detach, epacts, hasped, hasted, hepcat, heptad, pashed, pasted, phased, sachet, scaped, scathe, shaped, spaced, spathe, taches. | |
-3 letters: ached, aches, acted, adept, ashed, cades, cadet, caped, capes, caphs, cased, caste, cates, cesta, chads, chape, chaps, chapt. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-e-h-p-s-t" | |
+1 letter: cadetship, deathcups. | |
+2 letters: cadetships, despatched, despatches, dispatched, dispatcher, dispatches, mispatched. | |
+3 letters: despatching, dispatchers, feldspathic, packthreads. | |
+4 letters: cycadophytes, diaphoretics, orthopaedics, phagocytosed, thunderclaps. | |
+5 letters: cardiopathies, dodecaphonist, photocathodes, procathedrals, sophisticated. | |
| 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. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 65 73 70 61 74 63 68 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. . ... .--. .- - -.-. .... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01100101 01110011 01110000 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D e s p a t c h |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0065 0073 0070 0061 0074 0063 0068 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3871858267866974 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Historic 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.