Poster

How to spell poster

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce poster

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does poster mean?

1. nounA large printed picture or notice designed to be displayed on a wall or board.
2. nounA person who publishes messages or content, especially on an online forum.

Poster in a sentence

• She pinned a concert poster above her desk.

• One frequent poster on the forum answered every beginner question.

• The campaign printed a bright poster for every shop window.

• The moderator thanked each helpful poster in the thread.

Where does poster come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word grew out of the noun 'post', which in Old English (post) and Latin (postis) meant an upright pole or doorpost driven into the ground. Public notices were once nailed to such posts and boards, so 'to post' a bill came to mean fixing it up for everyone to read. From that practice English coined 'poster' in the early nineteenth century, around the 1830s, to name the large printed bill or placard itself. As advertising and lithographic printing flourished in the Victorian era, the poster became an art form in its own right, and the word later stretched to cover anyone who 'posts' a message, especially online. The spelling stays straightforward because it is simply 'post' with the familiar '-er' ending, and the long vowel of 'post' is preserved throughout.

How the word is built

• post (a placard fixed to a post or board)
• -er (noun suffix denoting a thing or agent)