This term stems from the medieval Latin “littera,” meaning “letter.” “Verbatim” and “literatim” might seem like synonyms, but their exact definitions differ slightly. “Verbatim” means “in the exact words,” while “literatim” means “letter for letter.” The Latin phrase “verbatim et literatim” means “word for word and letter for letter” and usually refers to copying something exactly as it was written. “Literatim” isn’t a term you often hear nowadays. If someone wants to describe copying something exactly, modern speakers might use the similar-sounding word “literally,” which has a definition of “in a literal sense, exactly.”