paper (English)

Where does "paper" come from?

The word 'paper' traces its roots back to the ancient Greek 'pápuros', which referred to the plant used to create the earliest writing material. This term traveled through Latin to Old Catalan, where it acquired its modern suffix, before passing through Anglo-Norman into Middle English. Over time, the word expanded from describing the simple physical material to representing the fragile, documented, or merely official nature of things written upon it.

Full etymology tree

• paper (English), 'Made of paper.'
  • inherited paper (Middle English), 'paper (thin, white writing surface made of wood pulp)'
    • borrowed paper (Anglo-Norman)
      • inherited paper (Catalan), 'paper'
        • compound papyrus (Latin), 'papyrus (plant)'
          • inherited πάπυρος (pápuros) (Ancient Greek), 'paper'
        • suffix -ārius (Latin), 'Used to form adjectives from nouns or numerals.'
          • inherited *-ās-(i)jo- (Proto-Italic)
            • derived *-āso- (Proto-Italic)
              • inherited *-eh₂so- (Proto-Indo-European)

Direct ancestors

• paper (Middle English)
• paper (Old Catalan)
• papyrus (Latin)
• πάπυρος (Ancient Greek)

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris