papyrus
/pəˈpaɪɹəs/noun
papyrus is spelled P-A-P-Y-R-U-S: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, papyrus means “A plant (Cyperus papyrus) in the sedge family, native to the Nile river valley, paper reed” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of papyrus is papyri or papyruses.
How many letters and syllables are in papyrus?
| Letters | 7: P-A-P-Y-R-U-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is papyrus?
Papyrus appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce papyrus?
- /pəˈpaɪɹəs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-papyrus.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of papyrus
- papyri plural
- papyruses plural
- papyr
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does papyrus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A plant (Cyperus papyrus) in the sedge family, native to the Nile river valley, paper reed.
- 2
A material similar to paper made from the papyrus plant.
- 3
A scroll or document written on papyrus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Papyrus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense plant in the sedge family:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does papyrus come from?
From Middle English papirus, borrowed from Latin papȳrus, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros), of unknown origin. Doublet of papyros.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).