Etymograph

English

mailpiece

From mail + piece; part of the business jargon of postal services and mail marketers for more than a century, but not common among the general public until the 21st century.

A compound of mail + piece

Proto-Germanic *malhō ‘leather bag’

Frankish *malhu ‘bag’

Old French male ‘bag, wallet’

Anglo-Norman male

Middle English male ‘bag’

English mail

Late Latin pettia ‘fragment’

Old French piece

Middle English pece ‘piece’

English piece

Today it means

noun (countable) A piece of mail, that is, an item of (physical) mail; especially, an item of flat envelope form factor as contrasted with an item of package form factor.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / mailpiece