Paperwork

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪ.pɚˌwɝk/

Definitions

1. The set of written documents and forms required for various administrative or logistical activities encompasses any official records needed for accomplishing tasks
2. The collection of written documents and forms needed for administrative tasks includes any official records necessary for various processes and procedures
3. Documents and forms required to complete administrative or official tasks

Etymology: "Paperwork" is a plain compound of "paper" and "work," and the history is correspondingly simple. "Paper" comes from Old English "papor," borrowed from Latin "papyrus," which itself traces back to Greek "papyros," the name of the reed from which Egyptian writing material was made. "Work" is the older Germanic word for labour or a task, so the combination describes, quite literally, labour performed on paper. The compound's value lies in the way it narrowed over time. Early uses of "paper" in "paperwork" would have carried a sense of documents as objects produced by clerks, but the term came to cover the whole administrative burden of forms, records and filing that accompanies an organisation's activity. The Oxford English Dictionary, whose entry was launched online in 2000, records the word in this sense, though the precise date of its first appearance is not something this etymology can fix.

Synonyms: documentation, records, admin

Antonyms: verbal communication, oral agreement