Leaflet

How to spell leaflet

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce leaflet

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does leaflet mean?

1. nounA small printed sheet of paper containing information or advertising, usually distributed free.
2. nounOne of the small leaf-like divisions that together make up a compound leaf.

Leaflet in a sentence

• The pharmacy gave her a leaflet explaining the side effects of the medicine.

• Each leaflet of the ash tree branch was narrow and pointed.

• A political leaflet was pushed through every letterbox on the street.

• The clover plant shows three rounded parts, and a fourth leaflet is considered lucky.

Where does leaflet come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a simple English compound built from the native noun 'leaf', which comes from the Old English 'leaf', meaning the green growth of a plant or, by extension, a page of a book. The ending '-let' is a diminutive suffix that English absorbed through French, where it signalled something small (as in 'booklet' or 'piglet'). When the two were joined, 'leaflet' first appeared in the early nineteenth century in botany to describe one of the small leaf-like divisions of a compound leaf. From the idea of a small, thin sheet, the meaning soon spread to a single printed page handed out to the public. The spelling is straightforward once you remember it is literally a 'little leaf', which also explains the double 'f' from 'leaf' followed by the doubled 't' in '-let'.

How the word is built

• leaf (from Old English leaf: leaf of a plant)
• -let (diminutive suffix meaning 'small')