Paper is a thin, flat material made from plant fibers, used for writing, printing, drawing, or wrapping. It can also mean a written document such as an essay, article, or newspaper.
From Old French 'papier', from Latin 'papyrus', the plant used in ancient Egypt to make a writing surface. The name of the plant eventually became the name of the writing material in many languages.
The word 'paper' is a fossil of 'papyrus', a swamp plant from the Nile that powered ancient record-keeping. Even though modern paper is made from trees, the name still points back to reeds by the river thousands of years ago.
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