Meanings
alternative snail-mail · alternative snailmail
- retronymuncountableMail (physical material) sent in the post, especially as compared with email.
I came home to a mailbox stuffed with snail mail.
1 more example
To send a letter by snail mail (the Postal Service), you must still compose it, and also print it out, unless you write it by hand or on a typewriter.
1993 November 9, L. R. Shannon, “Peripherals: MCI Mail Changes The Nature Of Letters”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, retrieved 03 Apr 2014Synonyms: smail
Synonyms & antonyms
nounMail (physical material) sent in the post, especially as compared with email.
nounMail (postal service), especially as compared with email.
More synonyms by meaning
nounany mail that is physically delivered by the postal service
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
A retronym emphasizing postal mail's slowness compared to email. The phrase itself predates the invention of email, attested since in print as early as 1968, in an Advertising Council advertisement supporting the U.S. Post Office: "Help Stamp Out Snail Mail: Use ZIP Code." (High Fidelity 18:11 [November 1968], 40.)
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan correu ordinari
- correu ordinariphysical postal mail
Danish sneglepost
- sneglepostphysical postal mail
Dutch slakkenpost, snailmail
- slakkenpostphysical postal mail
- snailmailphysical postal mail
Estonian tigupost
- tigupostphysical postal mail
Finnish etanaposti
- etanapostiphysical postal mail
French courrier papier, courrier traditionnel
- courrier papierphysical postal mail
- courrier traditionnelphysical postal mail
German Schneckenpost, Snailmail f Snail-Mail
- Schneckenpostphysical postal mail
- Snailmail f Snail-Mailphysical postal mail
Icelandic sniglapóstur
- sniglapósturphysical postal mail
Italian posta cartacea
- posta cartaceaphysical postal mail
Norwegian Bokmål sneglepost
- sneglepostphysical postal mail
Portuguese correio lesma
- correio lesmaphysical postal mail
Russian обычная по́чта
- обычная по́чта (obyčnaja póčta)physical postal mail
Spanish correo postal, correo ordinario
- correo postalphysical postal mail
- correo ordinariophysical postal mail
Swedish snigelpost
- snigelpostphysical postal mail
Cite this entry
snail mail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snail%20mail
“snail mail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snail%20mail. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snail mail,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snail%20mail.
Source: snail mail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.