Home › Glossary › Letter M

mail

Apparel
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Armor made of interlinked metal rings, known as chain mail, worn for protection in battle; in poetry, it evokes medieval chivalry, martial readiness, and the weight of armor as a metaphor for defense or burden.

Detailed Definition
In older literature, mail often means protective armor, especially chain mail worn by soldiers or knights. The child’s “wondrous tale” of men “clad in coats of mail” uses this historical sense, not the modern meaning of letters or post.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Of men all clad in coats of mail” evokes armor made of linked metal rings; “Mail rang when the rider turned” uses the armor’s sound for martial atmosphere; “A shirt of mail could not keep out grief” contrasts physical defense with emotional exposure; “The rusted mail in the museum slept” places the medieval object in modern historical reflection
Additional Notes
The armor sense of “mail” in “coats of mail” is specialized historical vocabulary rather than everyday usage.; Found in the poem, A Child To His Sick Grandfather by Joanna Baillie
Also Known As
post correspondence dispatch letter
Skip to main content