Word.ws English Dictionary

paper mâché

UK/ˌpeɪ.pəˈmaʃ.eɪ/

paper mâché is the alternative form of papier-mâché.

Meaning of papier-mâché

Noun

papier-mâché (uncountable)

  1. A composite material created by pulping paper or layering paper strips with an adhesive such as glue, starch or paste, which dries to form a durable, lightweight and moldable substance.
    • She sat completely alone at the very back of the sea-themed restaurant, amid papier-mâché starfish and plastic shrimp.2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 236

See all 3 meanings of papier-mâché

Forms of paper mâché

third-person singular presentpaper mâchés
present participlepaper mâchéing
past participlepaper mâchéd
pastpaper mâchéd
past participlepaper mâchéed
pastpaper mâchéed

Origin of paper mâché

Influenced by the English cognate paper.

Words that rhyme with paper mâché

Questions about paper mâché

What is paper mâché the alternative form of?
Paper mâché is the alternative form of papier-mâché.
How do you pronounce paper mâché?
Paper mâché is pronounced /ˌpeɪ.pəˈmaʃ.eɪ/ (UK).

Words near paper mâché in the dictionary

  1. paper money
  2. paper mulberries
  3. paper mulberry
  4. paper muslin
  5. paper muslins
  6. paper mâché
  7. paper nautili
  8. paper nautilus
  9. paper nautiluses
  10. paper organization
  11. paper orphan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paper mâché (page history and authors); papier-mâché (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “paper mâché.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paper_m%C3%A2ch%C3%A9. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.