papyri

Variant of papyrus

papyrus Definition

pa·py·rus (pə pī′rəs)

noun pl. papyri -·ri′ (-rī′) or papyruses -·ruses

a tall water plant (Cyperus papyrus) of the sedge family, abundant in the Nile region of Egypt and widely cultivated as an ornamental
a writing material made from this plant by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, by soaking, pressing, and drying thin slices of its pith laid crosswise
any ancient document or manuscript on papyrus

Etymology: ME papirus < L papyrus < Gr papyros, prob. < Coptic paparo < ? Egypt pʾ-n-pr-ʿʾ, that of the pharaoh

papyri Usage Examples

Converse of object

write: Amenemhat III is the first king of whom we may say that papyri certainly written in his reign were found at Kahun.
discover: That husbands had to register their families for the Roman census was mandated in census papyri discovered in Egypt.
date: We find an example in a papyri dated 13 BCE where the aorist tense is used in a reflexive sense.

Adjective modifier

Egyptian: You can buy anything from African tribal charms to Roman swords, Egyptian papyri to fossils.
magical: Most of Jesus's miracles have parallels in the magical papyri.
Greek: In other words in the very time that the Greek magic papyri were being composed.
ancient: Ever wondered how the Bible went from being a collection of ancient papyri into the text we have now?
medical: A brief overview of the medical papyri and medical inscriptions is included.
early: We thus have sixteen early papyri of John's Gospel.

Noun used with modifier

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