paper

From Middle English paper, from Anglo-Norman paper, from Old Catalan paper, borrowed from Latin papȳrus (and given the Catalan suffix -er), from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros).

• enPR: pā′pər
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ̯.pə/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ̯.pəɹ/, [ˈpʰeɪ̯.pɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɪ̯.pə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.pəɹ/
• (India) IPA^(key): (pane–pain merger) /ˈpeː.pə(ɾ)/, (without the pane–pain merger) /ˈpɛj.pə(ɾ)/, [ˈpeɪ̯.pə(r)]
• Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pa‧per

paper (countable and uncountable, plural papers)

2. A sheet material typically used for writing on or printing on (or as a non-waterproof container), usually made by draining cellulose fibres from a suspension in water.

   Hyponyms: abrasive paper, art paper, banana paper, blotting paper, bog paper, brown paper, butcher paper, carbon paper, chattel paper, cigarette paper, Colombier paper, commercial paper, construction paper, crêpe paper, daily paper, emery paper, filter paper, foolscap, graph paper, green paper, ledger paper, letter paper, linen paper, liquid paper, litmus paper, loo paper, newspaper, pad paper, permanent paper, photographic paper, photopaper, position paper, plain paper, printing paper, quadrille paper, rice paper, sandpaper, scientific paper, scratch paper, sheet of paper, shit paper, silver paper, soda paper, tissue paper, toilet paper, touch-paper, tracing paper, treacle paper, wrapping paper, writing paper

   Draw on the paper! Not on the walls!

   The paper mill on the south side of town makes various grades of paper and employs hundreds of people.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.

4. Ellipsis of newspaper; anything used as such (such as a newsletter or listing magazine).

   Read all about it in this morning's paper!

   In those days, the Reporter Dispatch was the paper of record around here, and everyone who was anyone took the paper [was a subscriber].

   • 1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC:

     "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. […]."

   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:

     “Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke […] whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”

   • 2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 54:

     However, Anyon Kay remembers a Mr Walton Ainsworth, of Beech House, Rivington, who owned mills in Bolton, being a regular user before the First World War. He used to drive by horse and trap from his mansion to catch the 0906 train to Bolton each day. Before arriving at the station, local newsagent Tom Dutton would hand Mr Ainsworth his morning paper!

6. (uncountable) Ellipsis of wallpaper.

   The paperhangers had just finished hanging the paper in the dining room when the interior decorator walked in and exclaimed that it was the wrong color.

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:

     There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

8. (uncountable) Ellipsis of wrapping paper.

   In those days, you asked the butcher for a block of cheese, and he wrapped it up in paper for you.

   The kids could hardly wait to tear the paper off their Christmas gifts.

9. (rock paper scissors) An open hand (a handshape resembling a sheet of paper), that beats rock and loses to scissors. It loses to lizard and beats Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
10. A written document, generally shorter than a book; usually written as a school assignment or a government report.

    Hyponyms: term paper, test paper, white paper

    Near-synonym: report

    I can't go out tonight. I have a paper due tomorrow, and I need to finish it tonight.

11. A written document that reports scientific or academic research and is usually subjected to peer review before publication in a scientific journal (as a journal article or the manuscript for one) or in the proceedings of a scientific or academic meeting (such as a conference, workshop, or symposium).

    Their team published a paper in the leading journal of their field, and its widespread impact elevated the reputation of their university department.

    • 2014 January, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review‎^[1], volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 30:

      This paper surveys the research methods and approaches used in the multidisciplinary field of applied language studies or language education over the last fourty^[sic] years. Drawing on insights gained in psycho- and sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and linguistic anthropology with regard to language and culture, it is organized around five major questions that concern language educators.

12. (British, Hong Kong) A set of examination questions to be answered at one session.
14. (slang) Money.
16. (finance, uncountable) Any financial assets other than specie, including paper money, commercial paper, and others.
    • 1812, William Major, Theory of Money and Exchanges, page XV:

      Why might not a Government annuity, the Principal of which was originally invested in Paper since the Cash suspension in 1797, be constituted the guarantee of Paper Money, emendating from that investiture and suspension, and the Parliament authority transferred to its security, as it has been to its creation, in preference to all others, while Paper continues our general Medium.

    • 1859, The Bankers' Magazine, and Statistical Register, volume 14, page 244:

      That great, rich institution, […] has three millions and a half specie in its vaults, and nearly six millions invested in paper, loans, discounts, pledges—suddenly turned up the other day […].

17. (New Zealand, countable or uncountable) (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) A university course.

    a paper in ology

    She's taking four papers this semester: two in psychology and two in sociology.

18. A paper packet containing a quantity of items.

    a paper of pins, tacks, opium, etc.

19. A medicinal preparation spread upon paper, intended for external application.

    cantharides paper

20. A substance resembling paper secreted by certain invertebrates as protection for their nests and eggs.
21. (dated) Free passes of admission to a theatre, etc.
22. (dated, by extension) The people admitted by free passes.

paper (not comparable)

1. Made of paper.
   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

2. Insubstantial (from the weakness of common paper)

   paper gangster

   • 2016: Manila Standard, "Speed limiter law: A paper tiger"; Maricel Cruz

     Speed limiter law: A paper tiger

   • 2016: The Australian, "China says Australia ‘is no paper tiger, only a paper cat at best’"; Rowan Callick

     It concluded that Australia was “not even a paper tiger, it’s only a paper cat at best”

3. Planned (from plans being drawn up on paper)

   paper engine, rocket

   • 2015 October 7, Dominic Perr, “Airbus Helicopters to begin Arrano tests for H160 shortly”, in Flight Global‎^[2], archived from the original on 26 April 2025:

     "We have to be able to demonstrate that it is not just a paper engine but a real engine" and that development work has "mitigated all the risk".

   • 2015: CBS News, "ULA unveils new rocket to replace Russian boosters"; William Harwood

     In a background teleconference hosted by SpaceX late last week, an unnamed official dismissed ULA's new booster as a "paper rocket," saying he doubted it would be significantly cheaper than ULA's current stable of launchers.

   • 2010: BBC News, "Pratt & Whitney eyes global plane engine deals"; Jorn Madslien

     Ours is not a paper engine... these are real engines that are in production today

   • 2010 January 19, Stephen Clark, “Musk refutes report slamming safety standards”, in Spaceflight Now‎^[3], archived from the original on 8 December 2018:

     "The Ares 1 is a paper rocket that's far off in the future," Musk said. "Falcon 9 is a real rocket, most of which is at Cape Canaveral right now."

4. Having a title that is merely official, or given by courtesy or convention.

   a paper lord

paper (third-person singular simple present papers, present participle papering, simple past and past participle papered)

1. (transitive) To apply paper to.

   to paper the hallway walls

2. (transitive) To document; to memorialize.

   After they reached an agreement, their staffs papered it up.

3. (transitive) To fill (a theatre or other paid event) with complimentary seats.

   Synonym: paper the house

   • 2020 April 1, Kelly Kessler, Broadway in the Box: Television's Lasting Love Affair with the Musical‎^[4], page 198:

     Later, seat-filling or “papering” services cropped up, with organizations like Audience Extras, Play-by-Play, […]

4. (transitive) To submit official papers to (a law court, etc.).
   • 2006, Drusilla Modjeska, The Best Australian Essays 2006‎^[5]:

     As powerhouse lawyers shuttled to Cuba to meet clients and papered the federal courts with habeas corpus petitions, Guantanamo's isolation and lack of publicity, once the military's most powerful psychological weapon, was eliminated.

   • 2007, Thomas M. Hanna, The Employer's Legal Advisor: Handling Problem Employees Effectively ...‎^[6]:

     […] the warning received only six weeks later for poor attendance as proof that the employer was unjustly papering his personnel file in an effort to create a reason for discharge.

5. (transitive) To give public notice (typically by displaying posters) that a person is wanted by the police or other authority.
6. (transitive) To sandpaper.
7. (transitive) To enfold in paper.
8. To paste the endpapers and flyleaves at the beginning and end of a book before fitting it into its covers.
9. (Northeastern US) To cover someone's house with toilet paper. Otherwise known as toilet papering or TPing.

• pre-AP

• IPA^(key): /papeɾ/ [pa.per]
• Rhymes: -apeɾ, -eɾ
• Hyphenation: pa‧per

paper inan

1. paper (material)
2. sheet of paper
3. (colloquial) newspaper

   Synonym: egunkari

• “paper”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
• “paper”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Inherited from Old Catalan paper. By surface analysis, Latin papȳrus +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pəˈpe]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [paˈpeɾ]^[1]

• Audio (Valencia):

  (file)

paper m (plural papers)

1. paper
2. role

• “paper”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “paper”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “paper” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “paper” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Middle English paper, from Old French papier, from Old Catalan paper, from Latin papyrus, from Ancient Greek πᾰ́πῡρος (pắpūros).

• IPA^(key): /papəɹ/

paper m (plural paperyow)

1. paper

• “paper” in Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Akademi Kernewek.

Unadapted borrowing from English paper. Doublet of papier.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeːpər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: peper

paper m or n (plural papers, diminutive papertje n)

1. (informal) paper (academic essay)

   Synonyms: essay, opstel

paper (Old Dauphinois)

1. alternative form of papiér

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “papyrus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 7: N–Pas, page 590

paper

1. inflection of papērt:
   1. second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. third-person plural present indicative
   3. second-person singular imperative
2. (with the particle lai) third-person singular imperative of papērt
3. (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of papērt

• papere, papir, papure, papyr, papyre, pauper, paupir

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman paper.

• IPA^(key): /paˈpeːr/, /paːˈpeːr/, /ˈpaːpər/, /ˈpapər/, /ˈpaːpiːr/

paper (plural papyres)

1. paper (thin, white writing surface made of wood pulp)
2. A message or note; something that is written.
3. A record or accounting document.

• English: paper (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: paper
• → Welsh: papur

• “papī̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 July 2018.

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin papyrus, adapted to the Catalan suffix -er (< Latin -ārius). First attested in 1249, soon after the Catalans became the first Europeans to control a paper mill by capturing the one in Xàtiva from the Moors.

paper m

1. paper (sheet material typically used for writing on or printing)

• Catalan: paper
• → Old Navarro-Aragonese: paper, papel
  • Aragonese: papel
• → Old French: papier (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: papel
  • Fala: papel
  • Galician: papel
  • Portuguese: papel (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Spanish: papel
  • Spanish: papel (see there for further descendants)

• Joan Coromines (1980–1991), “paper”, in Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Curial Edicions Catalanes

paper oblique singular, m (oblique plural papers, nominative singular papers, nominative plural paper)

1. alternative form of papier

• papel (also from ca. 1400)

Borrowed from Old Catalan paper. Attested from ca. 1400.

• IPA^(key): /paˈpeɾ/

paper m

1. paper

• Aragonese: papel

• Joan Coromines (1980–1991), “paper”, in Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Curial Edicions Catalanes

• (Lesser Poland):
  • (Western Lublin) IPA^(key): [ˈpa.pɛr]
  • (Przemyśl) IPA^(key): [ˈpa.pɛr]

paper m pers

1. (Przemyśl, Western Lublin, Kurów) alternative form of pauper

   Ej, ty paprze! Nie tacy byli. (Przemyśl)

   Hey, you rapscallion! They weren't like that.

• Aleksander Saloni (1908), “paper”, in “Lud rzeszowski”, in Materyały Antropologiczno-Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne‎^[7] (in Polish), volume 10, Kraków: Akademia Umiejętności, page 338
• Hieronim Łopaciński (1892), “paper”, in “Przyczynki do nowego słownika języka polskiego (słownik wyrazów ludowych z Lubelskiego i innych okolic Królestwa Polskiego)”, in Prace Filologiczne (in Polish), volume 4, Warsaw: skł. gł. w Księgarni E. Wende i Ska, page 229

Unadapted borrowing from English paper. Doublet of papel.

paper m (plural paperes)

1. paper (academic essay)

   Hypernym: artigo

• “paper”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “paper”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “paper”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “paper”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Unadapted borrowing from English paper. Doublet of papel.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeipeɾ/ [ˈpei̯.peɾ]
• Rhymes: -eipeɾ
• Syllabification: pa‧per

paper m (plural papers)

1. paper (academic essay)
   • 2020 July 23, Juan Felipe Vélez, “Colombia discute la legalización y comercialización de la cocaína”, in PanAm Post‎^[8]:

     Hay varios papers recientes sobre el efecto de la regularización del acceso a opioides en Estados Unidos [...]

     There are some recent papers on the effect of the regularization of access to opioids in the United States [...]

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “paper”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• Manuel Seco; Olimpia Andrés; Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023), “paper”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]