Email vs. Mail

By Jaxson

Main Difference

The main difference between Email and Mail is that the Email is a method of exchanging digital messages between people over a network and Mail is a system for transporting documents and other small packages.

  • Email

    Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages (“mail”) between people using electronic devices. Invented by Ray Tomlinson, email first entered limited use in the 1960s and by the mid-1970s had taken the form now recognized as email. Email operates across computer networks, which today is primarily the Internet. Some early email systems required the author and the recipient to both be online at the same time, in common with instant messaging. Today’s email systems are based on a store-and-forward model. Email servers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need to connect only briefly, typically to a mail server or a webmail interface for as long as it takes to send or receive messages.

    Originally an ASCII text-only communications medium, Internet email was extended by Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) to carry text in other character sets and multimedia content attachments. International email, with internationalized email addresses using UTF-8, has been standardized, but as of 2017 it has not been widely adopted.The history of modern Internet email services reaches back to the early ARPANET, with standards for encoding email messages published as early as 1973 (RFC 561). An email message sent in the early 1970s looks very similar to a basic email sent today. Email had an important role in creating the Internet, and the conversion from ARPANET to the Internet in the early 1980s produced the core of the current services.

  • Mail

    The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies, with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is often in the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk mailing. Modern private postal systems are typically distinguished from national postal agencies by the names “courier” or “delivery service”.

    Postal authorities often have functions other than transporting letters. In some countries, a postal, telegraph and telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system, in addition to telephone and telegraph systems. Some countries’ postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications for passports.

    The Universal Postal Union (UPU), established in 1874, includes 192 member countries and sets the rules for international mail exchanges.

Wikipedia
  • Email (noun)

    A system for transferring messages from one computer to another, usually via a network.

    “He sent me his details via email.”

    “The advent of email has simultaneously brought our society closer together and farther apart.”

  • Email (noun)

    A message sent via an email system.

    “He sent me an email last week to that effect.”

    “I am searching through my old emails.”

  • Email (noun)

    A quantity of email messages.

    “I am searching through my old email.”

    “My inbox used to allow only 50 MB of email at a time until last year, when they upgraded it to 2 GBs!”

  • Email (noun)

    An e-mail address.

    “What’s your email?”

    “Don’t send personal messages to my work email.”

  • Email (noun)

    a raised or embossed image pressed into metal, such as a seal pressed into a foil and attached to a document

  • Email (noun)

    A type of dark ink

  • Email (verb)

    To send an email or emails to.

    “She emailed me last week, asking about the status of the project.”

  • Email (verb)

    To send, or compose and send, an email or emails.

    “Most teenagers spend twenty-six hours a day emailing and surfing the Web.”

  • Email (verb)

    To send via email.

    “I’ll email you the link.”

    “He emailed the file out to everyone.”

  • Mail (noun)

    A bag or wallet. from 13thc.

  • Mail (noun)

    A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.

  • Mail (noun)

    The material conveyed by the postal service. from 17thc.

    “Don’t forget to pick up the mail on your way.”

  • Mail (noun)

    A stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.

  • Mail (noun)

    The postal service or system in general. from 17thc.

    “He decided to send his declaration by mail.”

  • Mail (noun)

    The letters, parcels, etc. delivered to a particular address or person. from 19thc.

  • Mail (noun)

    Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages. from 20thc.

  • Mail (noun)

    A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.

  • Mail (noun)

    Armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together.

  • Mail (noun)

    A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.

  • Mail (noun)

    Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.

  • Mail (noun)

    A spot on a bird’s feather; by extension, a spotted feather.

  • Mail (noun)

    An old French coin worth half a denier.

  • Mail (noun)

    A monetary payment or tribute.

  • Mail (noun)

    Rent.

  • Mail (noun)

    Tax.

  • Mail (verb)

    To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.

  • Mail (verb)

    To send by electronic mail.

    “Please mail me the spreadsheet by the end of the day.”

  • Mail (verb)

    To contact (a person) by electronic mail.

    “I need to mail my tutor about the deadline.”

  • Mail (verb)

    To arm with mail.

  • Mail (verb)

    To pinion.

Wiktionary
  • Email (noun)

    messages distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a network

    “reading email has become the first task of the morning”

    “email messages”

  • Email (noun)

    the system of sending messages by electronic means

    “a contract communicated by email”

  • Email (noun)

    a message sent by email

    “I got three emails from my mother today”

  • Email (verb)

    send an email to (someone)

    “you can email me at my normal address”

    “call, fax, or email for a free demo”

  • Email (verb)

    send (a message) by email

    “employees can email the results back”

  • Mail (noun)

    letters and parcels sent by post

    “I did not receive any mail”

  • Mail (noun)

    the postal system

    “you can order by mail”

  • Mail (noun)

    a single delivery or collection of mail

    “I had a notice in by this morning’s mail”

  • Mail (noun)

    email

    “you’ve got mail”

  • Mail (noun)

    a vehicle, such as a train, carrying mail.

  • Mail (noun)

    a bag of letters to be sent by post.

  • Mail (noun)

    used in titles of newspapers

    “the Daily Mail”

  • Mail (noun)

    armour made of metal rings or plates joined together flexibly

    “a coat of mail”

    “he had a mail shirt”

  • Mail (noun)

    the protective shell or scales of certain animals.

  • Mail (verb)

    send (a letter or parcel) by post

    “three editions were mailed to our members”

  • Mail (verb)

    send (someone) email

    “his site is OK and I can even mail him direct”

  • Mail (verb)

    clothe or cover with mail

    “a mailed gauntlet”

Oxford Dictionary

Leave a Comment