The Emergence Machine

Letter

physical · COMMUNICATION/MEDIA · Level 8 · E9

E9Cultures

Each concept here is mapped to its prerequisites — the ideas you'd need first to understand it — all the way down to four foundations: Space, Time, Energy, Pattern. Click any prerequisite to drill down, or scroll for the chain graph.

Trace. Question. Emerge.

Emergence definition

A letter emerges from the structured system of language, where a written symbol or character represents a sound or concept in a message, conveying information through the transmission of energy.

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Wiktionary senses

External reference — all senses of the word “letter” on Wiktionary. This atlas concept maps to only the slice of meaning relevant to the prerequisite graph.

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Source: Wiktionary — “letter”. Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Historical origin

Origin word
littera
Origin language
la

Prerequisite chain

Possible path of this concept down to the fundamental substrate.

thisfoundationsL8L7L6L5L4L2L1L0LetterLanguageCommunicationBehaviorOrganismSymbol… intermediate l…FormInformationLifeStructureActionChangeMatterEnergyPatternSpaceTimeE1 concrete → E14 abstract

Neighborhood

Direct prerequisites above, concepts that depend on this one below.

used byprerequisitesOctaveL9LetterL8SymbolL4LanguageL7E1 concrete → E14 abstract

In other languages

Prerequisites

What you need to understand first.

  • Symbol L4 (requires)
    A letter is a written symbol representing a sound
  • Language L7 (requires)
    Letters are the building blocks of written language

Used by