pamphlet

Meaning

Noun

1. A small, brief printed work, consisting either of a folded sheet of paper, or several sheets bound together into a booklet with only a paper cover, formerly containing literary compositions, newsletters, and newspapers, but now chiefly informational matter.
2. (specifically) Such a work containing political material or discussing matters of controversy.
3. (obsolete) A brief handwritten work.

Verb

1. (transitive) To distribute pamphlets (to someone or some place).
2. (archaic, transitive) To write about (someone or something) in a pamphlet; to issue (some material) in the form of a pamphlet.
3. (intransitive) To distribute pamphlets.
4. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To write or produce pamphlets.

Synonyms

brochure

leaflet

booklet

paperback

tract

flyer

folder

lampoon

notebook

📓

journal

newspaper

📰

pocketbook

satire

short essay

statement

summation

text

tractate

little book

printed paper

story book

leaflets

argument

small document

book

📖

chapbook

contents

declaration

fascicle

flier

handbill

handout

Translations

pamphlet

brochure

Pamphlet

panfleto

Broschüre

panfleto

vlugschrift

opuscolo

brochure

pamflet

paperback

folleto

livreto

📖

folheto

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈpæmflɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pamflet

Cognate with Old French: Panfilès

In summary

The noun is derived from Late Middle English pamflet, pamphilet (“short written text; small book; tract”) [and other forms], from Middle French Pamphilet (compare Late Latin (Anglo-Latin) pamfletus, panfletus, paunflettus (“short written text”), Old French Panfilès), a popular shorthand for the 12th-century Latin love poem Pamphilus, seu de amore (Pamphilus, or On Love): the widely circulated pamphlets then gave this name to the whole phenomenon. Pamphilet is derived from Latin Pamphilus, the name of a protagonist of the poem + Middle French -et (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns); while Pamphilus is from Ancient Greek Πάμφιλος (Pámphilos, literally “beloved by all”), from παν- (pan-, prefix meaning ‘all; every’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect; to shepherd”)) + φῐ́λος (phĭ́los, “beloved, dear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰil- (“decent; friendly; good; harmonious”)).
For the Middle French and Old French use of the suffix -et to form shorthands for the titles of works, compare Middle French Avionet (“the fables of Avianus”) from Avianus; Middle French Catonet, Old French Chatonnet, Chatonez (“the Distichs of Cato”) from Caton (they were formerly believed to be by Cato); and Old French Esopet, Isopet (“Aesop’s Fables”) from Ésope (Aesop).
The verb is derived from the noun.