mailed
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: verb/1
These verbs all describe causing something to reach a destination, but they differ in method and register. 'Mail' (and its British counterpart 'post') specifically means using a postal system — you mail a letter at a postbox or post office. 'Send' is the broadest term: you can send something by mail, by courier, by email, or by handing it to a friend. 'Dispatch' carries a formal, businesslike tone and often implies urgency or official purpose — you dispatch a parcel, a team, or a diplomatic cable, but you would not dispatch a birthday card to your grandmother. 'Forward' adds the idea of passing on something you yourself received — you forward an email to a colleague or ask the post office to forward your mail to a new address. 'Ship' implies transporting goods, typically in bulk or over long distances — a factory ships products to warehouses, while a person mails a single package to a relative. Choose 'mail' when the postal system or email is the specific channel; choose 'send' when the method is unimportant.
Common collocations
Etymology
The postal sense of 'mail' entered English from Old French 'male', meaning a bag or wallet, which came from Frankish '*malha'. The word originally referred to the travelling bag that carried letters and dispatches; over time, the contents and eventually the whole postal system took on the name. The armour sense has a completely separate origin: it comes from Latin 'macula' (mesh, spot) through Old French 'maille' (a link or mesh), referring to the interlocking rings that form the protective garment. The email sense is a 20th-century shortening of 'electronic mail', which first appeared in the 1970s as computer networks began to carry messages.