Postcodes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A system of characters that designates specific geographic regions to streamline postal delivery processes
2. An alphanumeric code that designates geographic locations, enhancing the efficiency of mail sorting and delivery
3. A series of letters and numbers assigned to particular areas to help direct mail efficiently

Etymology: "Postcode" is a compound of "post" and "code," and the story is mostly a matter of how two old words came to meet. "Post" traces back through Middle French "poste" and Italian "posta" to Latin "ponere," meaning "to place," and it entered English as the word for a fixed stage or station, later the system of carrying letters between them. "Code" came into English through Old French "code" from Latin "codex," which originally meant a tree trunk or block of wood, and later a bound book of written leaves. The sense of a body of laws or a system of symbols grew from that book-based meaning. The compound itself is a fairly recent coinage. It is formed directly from "post" and "code" in English, and it refers to the postal code system used to sort mail by geographic area. Its meaning therefore depends on the modern mail system rather than on either element's older sense.

Synonyms: zip codes