email

Where does the word "email" come from? It comes from American English electronic mail, and was adopted directly into English (1980s).

Email’s story begins in American English: electronic mail meant “computer-to-computer messages.” Ray Tomlinson at BBN in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sent the first email between networked computers on ARPANET in 1971 and chose the @ sign for addresses. It reached English by 1980s as email. Shortened to e-mail by the early 1980s; the Associated Press style guide dropped the hyphen in 2011. Today, email means messages sent electronically from one computer user to another.

1. Stage 1 · American English · 1971 electronic mail "computer-to-computer messages", Ray Tomlinson at BBN in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sent the first email between networked computers on ARPANET in 1971 and chose the @ sign for addresses.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1980s email "electronic messages", shortened to e-mail by the early 1980s; the Associated Press style guide dropped the hyphen in 2011.