Letterman

How to spell letterman

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce letterman

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does letterman mean?

1. nounA student, usually in an American school or college, who has earned an official letter for sport or another activity.
2. nounA varsity-style jacket bearing a school letter, named for the award it displays.

Letterman in a sentence

• As a three-sport letterman, he had three letters stitched onto his jacket.

• She wore a wool letterman with leather sleeves to the game.

• The reunion honoured every former letterman from the championship squad.

• The vintage letterman still had the team patch sewn on the chest.

Where does letterman come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is an American compound formed from 'letter' and 'man'. The 'letter' part traces back to the Latin littera, meaning a written character or mark, which passed into English through Old French lettre during the Middle Ages. In American schools and colleges from the late nineteenth century onward, a student who excelled in a sport or activity was awarded a cloth letter, usually the school's initial, to be sewn onto a jacket or sweater. The person who had earned this honour came to be called a 'letterman', the term first appearing in print in the early twentieth century. The spelling is straightforward once you remember it is simply the noun 'letter' joined to 'man', with the double t belonging entirely to 'letter' itself.

How the word is built

• letter (the cloth varsity initial awarded for achievement)
• -man (person)