Other forms: postmen
The postman is the person who brings your letters and parcels to the door. A red van at the end of the street, a bag over one shoulder, the letterbox clattering just after eight. In Britain he works for Royal Mail, and the woman doing the same round is the postwoman.
Americans say mailman, with mail carrier and letter carrier used in official writing, because the service there delivers mail rather than post. Postal worker covers everybody in the service, sorters included, and it is the safe word when you do not know who does the job. The postman is a fixture of ordinary life in the way milkmen once were, known by name on some streets and by smell to every dog on all of them. Remember the split: post is the British word for what comes through the letterbox and mail is the American one, though both countries call the building the post office.
1nounpostmanIn British English, a man whose job is to deliver letters and parcels.
“The postman rang the bell because the parcel would not fit through the door.”
synonyms: mailman, mail carrier, postal worker
2nounanybodyAnybody who delivers post on a regular round.
“Our postman comes at eight, but the relief postman turns up after lunch.”
postman is a delivery worker.
Also accepted in games: mailman, postal worker, mail carrier
Old English
post
Middle English
post
English
post
English, today
postman
From post + -man. post comes from Middle English post, from Old English post. Middle English post, from Old English post (“pillar, door-post”) and Old French post (“post, upright beam”), both from Latin postis (“door, post, doorpost”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA