litteram

Litteram is the accusative singular form of the Latin noun littera, which means a single letter of the alphabet or a written character. In broader usage, littera can also refer to a written document or piece of writing, and litteram appears in classical Latin as the direct object of verbs such as scribere (to write) when the sense is a single letter rather than multiple letters.

Littera, the base noun, is feminine and belongs to the first declension. The plural form litterae can denote multiple letters, epistles, or, more generally, literature or letters in the sense of correspondence. The distinction between littera (a single letter) and litterae (the letters as a set or as literature) is important in Latin, and the forms follow standard declension patterns for feminine first-declension nouns.

In usage, litteram is encountered in Latin where the focus is on an individual character, a single written element, or as the object of actions related to writing. The plural litterae is common in contexts referring to letters as documents, correspondence, or literary works. A well-known Latin expression related to literal meaning is ad litteram, meaning to the letter or literally, used to indicate strict correspondence to the written text.

In English-language discussions of Latin, litteram appears primarily in scholarly or linguistic contexts. The more general term littera and the plural litterae are encountered more frequently, especially in descriptions of Latin grammar, philology, or medieval and legal Latin.