Airmailing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of sending letters or parcels by aircraft to ensure faster delivery
2. The process of dispatching postal items through airplanes for quicker transit
3. Sending correspondence or packages by air to reduce the time taken for arrival

Etymology: "Airmailing" is the present participle of "airmail," a compound of "air" and "mail." The base word combines the Old English-derived "air" (from Latin "aer," via Greek "aēr") with "mail," which comes from Old French "male," a bag or wallet, and ultimately from a Germanic source. So the name describes a bag of letters sent through the air, the same way "mail" once meant the bag itself before it came to mean the letters inside. The verb form simply adds the familiar "-ing" to that compound, turning the noun into an action: the sending of post by aircraft. Because "airmail" describes a method of conveyance rather than a new kind of letter, the word needed no new root of its own, only the two existing parts placed side by side.