post

Post is a versatile term in English with several distinct meanings. It most often refers to a fixed wooden or metal stake used to support structures, mark boundaries, or provide a mounting point for gates and fencing. In architecture, a post and lintel system relies on vertical posts to carry horizontal beams.

Post also denotes mail and the organizational network that delivers it. In many countries, the postal service is known as the post; mail items are dropped at a post office and carried to recipients. A postmark stamps the date and origin on letters, and a postal worker is called a postman.

In digital and modern communication, to post means to publish content on a platform such as a blog, forum, or social media site. A single published item is a post, and submitting data to a server in web forms is an HTTP POST request.

As a prefix, post- means after, used in terms such as postwar, postmodern, or postoperative. It denotes a temporal relationship with what follows or precedes.

The term also appears in media titles; newspapers are often referred to simply as The Post, notably The Washington Post.