Paper is a thin, flat material made from pressed plant fibers, most commonly wood pulp, that we use for writing, drawing, printing, and wrapping things. When you write notes in class, draw pictures, or read a book, you're using paper.

For thousands of years, people wrote on stone tablets, clay, animal skins, or papyrus (a plant-based material from ancient Egypt that gave us the word “paper”). Then, around 100 CE, inventors in China discovered how to break down plant fibers, mix them with water, and press them into thin sheets that dried into what we call paper. This invention eventually spread across the world and changed everything. Before paper, books were incredibly expensive because each page had to be made from treated animal skin. Paper made books, newspapers, letters, and education accessible to ordinary people throughout society.

Today we also use paper to mean important documents: “Sign these papers” or “I need to organize my papers for the trip.” A newspaper is called a paper. Students write research papers to explore topics in depth.

The phrase on paper means how something looks in theory or planning, which might be different from reality. A basketball team might look unbeatable on paper but still lose games because real performance involves factors beyond statistics and talent.

As a verb, to paper means to cover something with paper, like papering a wall with wallpaper or papering over a crack to hide it.