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I wonder if there are terminologies for different parts of an email.

Say an email goes like this:

title: Help needed

Dear Mr. XXX,

I have trouble. Could you help me? Thank you!

Best regards,

YYY

I thought we could call "Dear XXX" the title. But this will create ambiguity since the real title is "Help needed"， nor should I call it the beginning, since the real beginning is "I have trouble".

Same for "Best regards", which I'd rather not call it "the end" since the true end is "Thank you!".

That are the formal terminologies for thoes two parts?

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  • As an aside, I wouldn't call it a "title," it'd call it a "subject" or "subject line."
    – cjl750
    Aug 9, 2019 at 6:42
  • @cjl750 What's the subtle difference?
    – No One
    Aug 9, 2019 at 12:14
  • 1
    The reason I would say "subject" and not "title" is because that's simply what it's most commonly referred to. In various email clients, that field is typically labelled as the "subject" in the interface. Sometimes you will hear "subject line," which refers literally to the box you type the subject in, but can also sometimes mean just the topic of the email.
    – cjl750
    Aug 9, 2019 at 22:19

1 Answer 1

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The first part is a salutation:

[Merriam-Webster]
2 : the word or phrase of greeting (such as Gentlemen or Dear Sir or Madam) that conventionally comes immediately before the body of a letter

The second part is a valediction:

[Merriam-Webster]
1 : an act of bidding farewell
2 : valedictory sense 1

valedictory
1 : an address or statement of farewell or leave-taking

Alternatively, it's also known as a closing:

[Merriam-Webster]
1 : a concluding part (as of a speech)

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