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Glite Dictionary
letter carrier

letter carrier

4 2.3
A person who delivers mail and packages to homes and shops
  • noun
  • /ˈlɛtər ˈkɛrɪər/
  • US
translation icon : cartero
  • I am a letter carrier.
  • postal letter carrier
  • letter carrier delivered
  • letter carrier delivered mail

Examples

  • A letter carrier puts mail through a slot in the door to which no one else comes.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • How many bank presidents in city communities know their letter carriers and children's teachers socially and see them in other contexts other than at work?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Her father was a letter carrier.

    Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

  • One of our letter carriers saved up for ten years and put herself through Harvard.

    Blog text (1)

  • The door is set facing the oncoming traffic so the letter carrier can still access it.

    Blog text (30)

  • Law was a letter carrier for the post office for forty-four years, ending his career in 1990.

    Academic text (2010)

  • If I were a letter carrier, I would put a letter and a package in everybody's mailbox every day.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Letter carriers—one quarter of them military veterans—provide Americans and their businesses with the world's most affordable delivery service.

    Blog text (10)

  • Rebecca Czarniak, 37, works as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service.

  • Law was a letter carrier for the post office for forty-four years, ending his career in 1990.

Synonyms

messenger
vsletter carrier
258 2.4

A person who delivers letters or small packages to other people

is specific to delivering official mail and parcels to addresses
carrier
vsletter carrier
238 2.9

A person or company that delivers letters and packages

focuses specifically on the postal delivery job to homes and businesses
mailman
vsletter carrier
  • US
96 1.0

A person who delivers letters and packages to people's homes and businesses

is the neutral expression avoiding reference to worker gender
courier
vsletter carrier
94 3.8

A person who carries and delivers messages or packages

is tied to official postal delivery rather than private delivery work
postman
vsletter carrier
  • UK
38 1.0

A person who delivers letters and parcels to homes and businesses

is the gender-neutral term for that same delivery role
mail carrier
vsletter carrier
  • US
7 2.0

A person who delivers letters and packages to homes and businesses

is the same role but named differently in other contexts
postie
vsletter carrier
  • Australian
1 8.4

A person who delivers letters and parcels to homes and shops

is the neutral, more formal way to name that job
mailwoman
vsletter carrier
  • US
1 2.0

A woman who delivers letters and packages to homes and businesses

is the neutral term that does not specify worker gender
postwoman
vsletter carrier
  • UK
2.1

A woman who delivers letters and packages to homes and shops

is the general term that applies regardless of the worker's gender
postboy
vsletter carrier
  • Archaic
9.3

A boy who rode a horse to deliver mail in the past

is the modern postal worker role rather than a historical youthful role

How Senior

postmaster
18 4.2
letter carrier
  • US
4 2.3
mail clerk
  • US
1 2.8

Surface Forms

letter carrier singular
letter carriers plural

Morphology

letter + carrier

The meaning 'a person who delivers mail' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'letter' (mail item) with 'carrier' (one who carries or transports). This compound follows a straightforward agentive noun+noun composition common across languages and does not involve idiomatic or metaphorical shift, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will understand it.

Etymology

The noun letter carrier comes from the simple picture of a person with a bag of letters walking from door to door to hand them out. A carrier is someone who carries, so the phrase now means 'a person who delivers mail and packages to homes and shops'.