envelope
English · Italiano · Português · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
envelope¹
- /ˈɛnvə(ˌ)ləʊp/ UK
- /ˈɒnvə(ˌ)ləʊp/ UK
- /ˈɒnvləʊp/ UK
- /ˈɑ̃və(ˌ)ləʊp/ UK
- /ˈɛnvə(ˌ)loʊp/ US
- /ˈɑn-/ US
Where it comes from
PIE word
*h₁én
From French enveloppe. The engineering sense is derived from flight envelope. The verb is from the noun.
noun envelopes
- A paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing. Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers
-
Something that envelops; a wrapping.
Similar: wrapper
-
A bag containing the lifting gas of a balloon or airship; fabric that encloses the gas-bags of an airship.
They have no internal or external support structure, being simply a fabric bag (or envelope) filled with a lighter than air gas. Inside the envelope are one or more "ballonets", or smaller bags, which help maintain the envelope's shape.
Similar: gasbag
- A mathematical curve, surface, or higher-dimensional object that is the tangent to a given family of lines, curves, surfaces, or higher-dimensional objects.
- A curve that bounds another curve or set of curves, as the modulation envelope of an amplitude-modulated carrier wave in electronics.
- The shape of a sound, which may be controlled by a synthesizer or sampler.
-
The information used for routing a message that is transmitted with the message but not part of its contents.
Similar: header
- An enclosing structure or cover, such as a membrane; a space between two membranes
- The set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively. push the envelope
- The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; a coma.
- An earthwork in the form of a single parapet or a small rampart, sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it. make a blind all along the bottom of the ditch of the Envelope
verb envelopes · enveloping · enveloped
- To put (something) in an envelope. Arthur Armytage drew the precious document from his bureau; and without trusting himself to a re-perusal, enveloped and re-enveloped—sealed and resealed it;—mounted his horse, and rode off to Greta Castle.
envelope²
- /ɛnˈvɛləp/
Where it comes from
See envelop.
verb envelopes · enveloping · enveloped
- Archaic form of envelop Again, if the plane of the impressed couple intersects the mean plane between N and C, it will envelope the cone whose focals are ON, ON′, and whose internal axis is therefore OA.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: gasbag, dossier, staffing, component, ram, letter, enclosure, amount, arrangement, budget, framework, funding, housing, provision, package, compartment
Translations
Every language
noun wrapper for mailing
| Español | sobre, envelop, sobrescrito, sobrescripto |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 봉투 bongtu |
| 日本語 | 封筒 fūtō |
| 中文 | 信封 xìnfēng |
| हिन्दी | लिफ़ाफ़ा lifāfā, लिफाफा liphāphā |
| Kiswahili | bahasha |
| Português | envelope |
| Français | enveloppe |
| Deutsch | Briefumschlag, Umschlag |
| Italiano | busta |
| Ελληνικά | φάκελος fákelos |
| Română | plic |
| Русский | конве́рт konvért |
| Tiếng Việt | phong bì, bao thư |
| العربية | مُغَلَّف muḡallaf, لِفَافَة lifāfa, ظرف ẓarf |
| עברית | מַעֲטָפָה ma'atafá |
noun something that envelops
| Português | invólucro |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Umschlag |
| Ελληνικά | περίβλημα perívlima |
| Română | învelitură, înveliș |
| Русский | обёртка objórtka |
| العربية | غِلَاف ḡilāf |
noun bag containing the lifting gas
| Português | envelope |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Hülle |
| Română | sac, pungă |
| Русский | оболо́чка obolóčka |
noun geometry: object that is the tangent to a family of objects
| Français | enveloppe |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Hüllkurve |
| Ελληνικά | περιβάλλουσα perivállousa |
| Română | anvelopă, înfășurătoare |
| Русский | огиба́ющая ogibájuščaja |
noun electronics: curve that bounds a set of curves
| Русский | огиба́ющая ogibájuščaja |
|---|
noun music: shape of a sound
| 日本語 | エンベロープ enberōpu |
|---|---|
| Русский | огиба́ющая ogibájuščaja |
noun biology: enclosing structure or cover
| Ελληνικά | περιχιτώνιο perichitónio, περίβλημα perívlima |
|---|---|
| Română | înveliș |
| Русский | оболо́чка obolóčka |
noun engineering: limits within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively
| Ελληνικά | κέλυφος kélyfos |
|---|
Talk about this word "envelope." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/envelope. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. envelope. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/envelope "envelope." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/envelope.Cite this
@misc{envelope_2026,
title = {envelope},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/envelope},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
