Electronic books; digital versions of books that can be read on computers, e-readers, tablets, or smartphones.
Compound of 'electronic' (shortened to 'e-') and 'books.' The 'e-' prefix became popular in the 1990s with the rise of the internet and digital technology. The first ebooks appeared in the 1970s, but the term gained widespread use in the 1990s with the development of dedicated reading devices.
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