parchment

See also: Parchment

English

Etymology

From Middle English parchemyn, parchement, from Old French parchemin, via Latin pergamīna, from Ancient Greek Περγαμηνός (Pergamēnós, “of Pergamon”), which is named for the ancient city of Pergamon (modern Bergama) in Asia Minor, where it was invented as an expensive alternative for papyrus. Cognate with Danish pergament, Dutch perkament, French parchemin, German Pergament, Greek περγαμηνή (pergaminí), Italian pergamena, Norwegian pergament, Portuguese pergaminho, Galician pergameo, Romanian pergament, Russian пергамент (pergament), Spanish pergamino, and Swedish pergament.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːtʃmənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰɑɹt͡ʃmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: parch‧ment

Noun

parchment (countable and uncountable, plural parchments)

1. Material, made from the polished skin of a calf, sheep, goat or other animal, used like paper for writing.

   Synonyms: bookfell, membrane, vellum

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

   • 1973, “Swamp Witch”, in Jim Stafford (lyrics), Jim Stafford, performed by Jim Stafford:

     Never found Hattie and they never found the shack
     Never made the trip back in
     There was a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
     Said: Don't come lookin' again.

2. A document made on such material.
3. A diploma (traditionally written on parchment).
4. Stiff paper imitating that material.

   Synonyms: vegetal parchment, parchment paper, wax paper

5. The creamy to tanned color of parchment.
6. The envelope of the coffee grains, inside the pulp.

Derived terms

• baking parchment
• parchmental
• parchmented
• parchmentization
• parchmentize
• parchmentless
• parchmentlike
• parchment paper
• parchment worm
• parchmenty
• unparchmented
• unparchmentized
• virgin parchment

 

Translations

material

• Albanian: pergament m
• Arabic: رَقّ (ar) m (raqq)
• Armenian: մագաղաթ (hy) (magaġatʻ)
• Azerbaijani: perqament
• Belarusian: перга́мент m (pjerhámjent), перга́мін m (pjerhámin)
• Bulgarian: пергаме́нт (bg) m (pergamént)
• Catalan: pergamí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 羊皮紙／羊皮纸 (joeng⁴ pei⁴ zi²)

  Mandarin: 羊皮紙／羊皮纸 (zh) (yángpízhǐ)

• Classical Nahuatl: ēhuaāmatl
• Czech: pergamen m
• Danish: pergament n
• Dutch: perkament (nl) n
• Esperanto: pergameno (eo)
• Estonian: pärgament
• Finnish: pergamentti (fi)
• French: parchemin (fr) m
• Galician: pergameo (gl) m, pergamiño (gl) m
• Georgian: ეტრატი (ka) (eṭraṭi)
• German: Pergament (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌼𐌱𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰 m (maimbrana)
• Greek: περγαμηνή (el) f (pergaminí)

  Ancient: διφθέρα f (diphthéra), μεμβράνα f (membrána)

• Hebrew: קְלָף (he) m (k'láf)
• Hindi: चर्मपत्र m (carmapatra)
• Hungarian: pergamen (hu)
• Icelandic: bókfell (is) n
• Indonesian: perkamen (id)
• Irish: párpháipéar m
• Italian: pergamena (it) f, membrana (it) f, cartapecora (it) f, vello (it) m
• Japanese: 羊皮紙 (ja) (ようひし, yōhishi)
• Kashubian: pergament m
• Kazakh: пергамент (pergament)
• Korean: 양피지(羊皮紙) (ko) (yangpiji)
• Kyrgyz: пергамент (pergament)
• Latin: membrana f
• Latvian: pergaments m
• Lithuanian: pergamentas (lt) m
• Macedonian: пергаме́нт m (pergamént)
• Malay: kertas kulit
• Middle English: parchemyn
• Nogai: татырга (tatırga)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pergament (no) n

• Old Czech: bělpuch m
• Persian: کَراسِه (fa) (karâse), کاغَذ پوست (kâğaz-e pust), رَقّ (fa) (raqq)
• Polish: pergamin (pl) m
• Portuguese: pergaminho (pt) m
• Romanian: pergament (ro) n
• Russian: перга́мент (ru) m (pergáment)
• Scottish Gaelic: pàipear-craicinn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: перга̀мент m

  Roman: pergàment (sh) m

• Slovak: pergamen m
• Slovene: pergament (sl) m
• Spanish: pergamino (es) m
• Swedish: pergament (sv) n
• Tajik: пергамент (pergament)
• Thai: กระดาษหนัง
• Turkish: parşömen (tr)
• Ukrainian: перга́мент m (perháment), перга́мен m (perhámen) (rare)
• Uzbek: pergament (uz)
• Vietnamese: giấy da
• Volapük: pigmin (vo)

document

• Armenian: մագաղաթ (hy) (magaġatʻ)
• Catalan: pergamí (ca) m
• Dutch: perkament (nl) n
• Finnish: pergamentti (fi)
• Galician: pergameo (gl) m, pergamiño (gl) m
• Georgian: ეტრატი (ka) (eṭraṭi)
• German: Pergament (de) n
• Greek: περγαμηνή (el) f (pergaminí)
• Italian: pergamena (it) f
• Latvian: pergaments m
• Maori: kirihipi
• Middle English: parchemyn
• Persian: کَراسِه (fa) (karâse)
• Polish: pergamin (pl) m
• Russian: перга́мент (ru) m (pergáment)
• Spanish: pergamino (es) m

diploma (only specific material-related terms, not mere synonyms of diploma)

• Dutch: bul (nl), ezelsvel (nl) n
• French: parchemin (fr) m
• Galician: pergameo (gl) m, pergamiño (gl) m
• Greek: περγαμηνή (el) f (pergaminí)

imitating paper

• Dutch: perkamentpapier n
• Finnish: pergamenttipaperi
• French: vélin (fr) m
• German: Pergamentpapier (de) n
• Irish: páipéar párach m, párpháipéar m
• Russian: перга́ментная бума́га f (pergámentnaja bumága)

creamy or tanned color

• Dutch: perkamentkleur

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} pergament (sv), ^{(please verify)} veläng

See also

• 📜