Word.ws English Dictionary

paper mache

UK/ˌpeɪ.pəˈmaʃ.eɪ/

paper mache 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 mache

third-person singular presentpaper maches
present participlepaper maching
past participlepaper mached
pastpaper mached
past participlepaper macheed
pastpaper macheed

Origin of paper mache

Influenced by the English cognate paper.

Words that rhyme with paper mache

Questions about paper mache

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

Words near paper mache in the dictionary

  1. paper kite butterfly
  2. paper knife
  3. paper knives
  4. paper launch
  5. paper launches
  6. paper mache
  7. paper machee
  8. paper machine
  9. paper machines
  10. paper maché
  11. paper mill

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paper mache (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 mache.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paper_mache. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.