the.com/ebook

means A digital publication read on a screen instead of printed paper, formatted to mimic the reading experience of a traditional book.

from A straightforward compound coined in the late 20th century as digital reading devices emerged — 'e-' for 'electronic,' the same prefix riding along on email, ecommerce, and ecards, bolted onto the ancient word 'book.' The 'e-' prefix itself took off in the 1990s as shorthand for anything that had migrated from atoms to bits; 'ebook' simply followed the pattern, first clunky with a hyphen (e-book), then worn smooth by use into one word, the way 'email' lost its hyphen too.