e-words

e stands for electronic

We invent new words all the time and we’ve made several new words by putting ‘e’ in front of them. I wonder if the original meaning of ‘e’ has now been forgotten.

We usually hyphenate these words when they are new.

e-mail
e-newsletters
e-commerce
e-business
e-learning

Some hyphens drop off over time. You seldom see email with a hyphen these days. And elearning is now used more widely.

e-words and capitals

Sometimes the word after the ‘e’ is capitalised with brand names.

eSphere
eBay

The e is usually lower case, but some people make it a capital at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.

E-trade is on the rise.

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