Epistle

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: e + pis + tle
• IPA: /ɪˈpɪs.l/
• Rhymes: -ɪsÉ™l

Origin

From Old French epistre, from Latin epistola, from Ancient Greek ἐπιστολή, from ἐπιστέλλω (epistellō, "I send a message"), from ἐπί (epi, "upon") + στέλλω (stellō, "I prepare, send").

Full definition of epistle

Noun

1. A letter, or a literary composition in the form of a letter.
• 1748 — David Hume, , Section III, § 5.he may be hurried from this plan by the vehemence of thought, as in an ode, or drop it carlessly, as in an epistle or essay
2. (Christianity) One of the letters included as a book of the New Testament.
• 1956 — Werner Keller (translated by William Neil), The Bible as History, revised English edition, Chapter 41, page 358Even last century scholars had begun to search for the cities in Asia Minor whose names have become so familiar to the Chistian world through the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul.

Related terms

• epistolary

Verb

1. (obsolete) To write; to communicate in a letter or by writing.