As a verb, it means to produce text or pictures on paper using a printer or press. As a noun, it can mean printed text, a picture, or a pattern.
From Old French *preinte* 'impression', from Latin *premere* 'to press'. It originally referred to pressing shapes or letters onto a surface.
Printing began as literal pressure: pressing inked shapes hard enough to leave a mark. That physical act of copying ideas cheaply changed who could read, argue, and think in public. Every printed page is a fossil of someone else’s thoughts made solid.
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