Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • abbreviation electron
  • noun The fifth letter of the modern English alphabet.
  • noun Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter e.
  • noun The fifth in a series.
  • noun Something shaped like the letter E.
  • noun A grade that indicates failing status.
  • noun The third tone in the scale of C major or the fifth tone in the relative minor scale.
  • noun A key or scale in which E is the tonic.
  • noun A written or printed note representing this tone.
  • noun A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this tone.
  • noun Mathematics The base of the natural system of logarithms, having a numerical value of approximately 2.71828.
  • noun The hypothesized textual source of certain narrative portions of the Pentateuch in which God is referred to as Elohim rather than with the Tetragrammaton.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A prefix of Anglo-Saxon origin, one of the forms of the original prefix ge-. It remains unfelt in enough. See i-.
  • A prefix of Latin origin, a reduced form of ex-, alternating with ex- before consonants, as in evade, elude, emit, etc. See ex-.
  • [capitalized] The sign of residuation (which see).
  • [capitalized] In chem., sometimes used as the symbol for erbium: more commonly Er.
  • The common symbol for the modulus of elasticity, or the force, in pounds, required to stretch a bar of any material one square inch in cross-section until its length is increased by one hundred per cent.
  • In electricity, a symbol for electromotive force.
  • An abbreviation of Earl;
  • of Eastern;
  • of English;
  • in experimental psychology, of experimenter.
  • The unpronounced termination of many English words.
  • The fifth letter and second vowel in our alphabet.
  • As a numeral, 250.
  • As a symbol: In the calendar, the fifth of the dominical letters.
  • In logic, the sign of the universal negative proposition. See A, 2.
  • In algebra: [capitalized] The operation of enlargement: thus, Efx = f (x + 1); also, the greatest integer as small as the quantity which follows: thus, . [l. c.] The base of the Napierian system of logarithms; also, the eccentricity of a conic.
  • In music: The key-note of the major key of four sharps, having the signature , or of the minor key of one sharp, having the signature ; also, the final of the Phrygian mode in medieval music.
  • In the fixed system of solmization, the third tone of the scale, called mi: hence so named by French musicians.
  • On the keyboard of the pianoforte, the white key to the right of every group of two black keys.
  • The tone given by such a key, or a tone in unison with such a tone.
  • The degree of a staff assigned to such a key or tone; with the treble clef, the lower line and upper space .
  • A note on such a degree, indicating such a key or tone .
  • As an abbreviation: East: as, E. by S., east by south. See S. E., E. S. E., etc.
  • In various phrase-abbreviations. See e. g., i. e., E. and O. E., etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • The fifth letter of the English alphabet.
  • (Mus.) E is the third tone of the model diatonic scale. E♭ (E flat) is a tone which is intermediate between D and E.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The fifth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
  • noun mathematics The base of natural logarithms, a transcendental number with a value of approximately 2.718281828459
  • noun close-mid front unrounded vowel
  • noun The fifth letter of the English alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script.
  • noun The ordinal number fifth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script.
  • noun The name of the Latin script letter E/e.
  • noun mathematics the base of the natural logarithm, 2.718281828459045…

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the base of the natural system of logarithms; approximately equal to 2.718282...
  • noun a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for normal reproduction; an important antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals in the body
  • noun the 5th letter of the Roman alphabet
  • noun the cardinal compass point that is at 90 degrees

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Sense 8, from Elohim.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Modification of capital letter E, from Ancient Greek letter Ε (E, "Epsilon").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English and Old English lower case letter e and split of æ, ea, eo, and œ, from five 7th century replacements of Anglo-Saxon Futhorcs by Latin letters:

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Examples

  • But I could not utter the word, so strong on the other hand, also in the dream, was my conventional awareness: countless inhibitions made the syllables stick in my throat, until, sobbing with anguish, I reached the point where the four letters: f, r, e, e -- crossed the threshold of my consciousness.

    Archive 2010-07-01

  • But I could not utter the word, so strong on the other hand, also in the dream, was my conventional awareness: countless inhibitions made the syllables stick in my throat, until, sobbing with anguish, I reached the point where the four letters: f, r, e, e -- crossed the threshold of my consciousness.

    Journeys

  • Crucially, this formula is not understood as ˜e is an event that contains a swim by Ewan™ or as “e is an event in which Ewan is swimming”.

    Situations in Natural Language Semantics

  • It is simply stipulated on the basis of contextual considerations that c* and e* are intended to act as contrasts to c and e.

    My Shasta Daisy

  • (The immediate structure of an expression is the syntactic mode its immediate constituents are combined. e is an immediate constituent of e² iff e is a constituent of e² and e² has no constituent of which e is a constituent.) (Clocal)

    Compositionality

  • On this view causal relations have the form: c causes e rather than e*.

    The Metaphysics of Causation

  • Let us say that the expressions e and e² are n-global equivalents just in case for some natural number k there is a k-ary F in

    Compositionality

  • Let us say that the expressions e and e² are local equivalents just in case they are the results of applying the same syntactic operation to lists of expressions such that corresponding members of the lists are synonymous.

    Compositionality

  • “Look what ‘e done to ’is own daughter, ‘oo nursed ’im like a saint with one foot in ‘eaven through all the years ’e was ill,” someone else observed.

    Slightly Married

  • The upper ends of the hooks have fingers, _d d'_, which holds the shuttle in position as long as the action of the springs, _e e'_, continues.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 286, June 25, 1881

Comments

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  • Symbol for the mathematical, transcendental number 2.718281828459045... Illustration: if you should invest $1.00 in a bank that paid interest compounded, not daily, or monthly, but EVERY INSTANT, at the end of a year you'd have $271.18. Cool, no? "e" is related to organic growth and radioactive decay et al.

    December 4, 2006

  • The derivative of e is 1, the derivative of e^x is e^x. Furthermore, the integral of 1/x is the (log base e)ln(x).

    December 5, 2006

  • Plus, of course,

    e ^ (i * π) = -1

    December 5, 2006

  • I like this even better:

    e^(i*π) + 1 = 0

    All of the most mysterious symbols of mathematics combined in one equation.

    See Euler's identity.

    December 5, 2006

  • hmmm...the derivative (with respect to x) of e is 0, not 1.

    March 21, 2007

  • Agreed. e is a constant, and so differentiation gives zero.

    March 21, 2007

  • The end of time and the beginning of eternity.

    September 11, 2008

  • e (Vietnamese): to fear.

    October 20, 2009

  • For its use in the mnemonic words of logic, see a.

    February 14, 2013