Message

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈmɛsɪd͡ʒ/

Definitions

1. A piece of information or communication sent from one person or entity to another
2. A communication that conveys information, whether verbal, written, or symbolic, from a sender to a recipient
3. An informational note or verbal exchange transmitted from one individual or group to another to convey an idea or instruction

Etymology: The word "message" traces back to a Latin verb meaning "to send." Late Latin scribes and officials used "missāticum," a noun built from "mittere," and it passed into Old French as "message," meaning a errand, a mission, or the thing being carried. English borrowed it in the Middle Ages, and for a long time it meant a journey made on someone's behalf or a task entrusted to a messenger rather than the words themselves. The sense of "information sent" came later, as the word shifted from the carrier's errand to the content it delivered. Old English had its own word for a mission, "ærende," which survives today as "errand," so the two words once covered overlapping ground before "message" pushed it aside for the broader sense. The Latin root "mittere" is also behind words like "mission," "missile," and "emit," all of which share the core idea of sending something forth. The Proto-Indo-European ancestor is reconstructed with a sense of "to exchange," a reminder that sending and exchanging were once closely linked ideas.

Synonyms: communication, notification

Antonyms: silence