# letter (written)

a piece of paper that has text on it

- Computed level: L17 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: common  ·  Arena: lexicon

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [paper](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-paper.material), [text](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-text.written), [piece](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-piece.portion)

**Through:** paper holds text together to form a written communication

**Novel properties:**
- physical carrier of written message
- bounded textual artifact
- structured surface with informational marks

## Examples
- The Magna Carta, sealed in 1215, survives as a parchment document with handwritten Latin text. *(institutions)*
- Marie Curie's 1898 letter to the French Academy of Sciences described the discovery of polonium. *(science)*
- A printed letter from Nelson Mandela, dated February 1985, was smuggled out of Pollsmoor Prison. *(history)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-letter.written*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-letter.written.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*