papyrus
papyrus — noun
1. a tall water plant with a triangular stem and feathery green tops, found mainly
a tall water plant with a triangular stem and feathery green tops, found mainly along rivers and marshes in North Africa, especially the Nile.
Thick clumps of papyrus grew along the muddy edge of the Nile.
uncountable: clumps of papyrus
The botanist Dr. Mensah pointed to a stand of papyrus swaying in the breeze.
Frogs and small birds hide among the tall stems of papyrus near the riverbank.
Farmers in southern Egypt once cut papyrus to make boats, baskets, and rope.
Papyrus can grow up to five metres tall in shallow, slow-moving water.
用法筆記
Subject is usually the plant itself or a place where it grows; rarely takes an article in this sense (compare sense 2, where 'a papyrus' refers to a document).
常見錯誤
2. an early form of paper made by pressing thin strips taken from the stem of a tal
an early form of paper made by pressing thin strips taken from the stem of a tall water reed into flat sheets, used in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; also a single document or scroll written on such sheets.
Egyptian scribes wrote royal letters on papyrus using reed pens and black ink.
uncountable: write on papyrus
The museum displays a 3,000-year-old papyrus covered in tiny hieroglyphs.
countable: a papyrus = a document
Dr. Khalid spent six months studying a damaged papyrus in the British Museum.
Several papyri found near Oxyrhynchus describe daily life in Roman Egypt.
The students learned how ancient Egyptians cut papyrus into strips and pressed it flat.
- scroll
any rolled document; papyrus is one common material for ancient scrolls
- manuscript
any handwritten document; broader and not tied to material
- parchment
competing ancient writing material made from animal skin, not plant fibre
用法筆記
Plural is usually 'papyri' in academic writing, though 'papyruses' is also accepted. Distinguish from sense 1: a 'papyrus' (with 'a' or in the plural) almost always means a written document, not the living plant.