papier-mâché
UK/ˌpap.ɪ.eɪˈmaʃ.eɪ//ˌpeɪ.pɚ.məˈʃeɪ/
papier-mâché noun: 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.
Noun
papier-mâché (uncountable)
- 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
Adjective
papier-mâché (not comparable)
Verb
papier-mâché (third-person singular simple present papier-mâchés, present participle papier-mâchéing, simple past and past participle papier-mâchéd or papier-mâchéed)
- To apply papier-mâché to.
- I have had it rebuilt, papier-mâchéd inside and otherwise repaired through the years.1954, Emmett Kelly, F[rancis] Beverly Kelley, Clown, page 116
- When the bodies of the fish were finished, fins were cut from cardboard to the desired shapes, pinned with straight pins to the fish, and papier-mâchéd in place.1959, SchoolArts, page 21
papier-mâché meaning in Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and Arabic
papier-mâché in Tamil
- paper mixed with glue to create a sculptural object
- தாள் ஊறல் tāḷ ūṟal
papier-mâché in Telugu
- paper mixed with glue to create a sculptural object
- కాగితపు గుజ్జు kāgitapu gujju
papier-mâché in Gujarati
- paper mixed with glue to create a sculptural object
- કાગળનો માવો kāgaḷno māvo
papier-mâché in Arabic
- paper mixed with glue to create a sculptural object
- وَرَق مُقَوَّى waraq muqawwā
More languagesFewer languages
- papier-mâché in Indonesian
- bubur kertas
- papier-mâché in Persian
- پاپیه ماشه pâpiye mâše
- papier-mâché in Vietnamese
- pa-pi-ê-ma-sê
Examples of papier-mâché in a sentence
- In a giddy moment they had also papier-mâchéd the legs of the card table.1990, Sarah Ellis, Next-Door Neighbors, New York, N.Y.: Margaret K. McElderry Books, →ISBN, page 78:
- I papier-mâchéed the entire volcano, constructed the tiny town out of toothpicks, and doublechecked the calculations to make sure it’s all to scale.2019, Annabeth Bondor-Stone, Connor White, Jaclyn Hyde, HarperCollins, →ISBN:
- Then he taped another cardboard tube on and papier-mâchéd it.2020, Nancy Snyder, Lions for Ajax, Shepherd Press, →ISBN:
Forms of papier-mâché
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | papier-maché |
| alternative form | papier-mache |
| alternative form | papier mache |
| alternative form | paper mâché |
| alternative form | paper maché |
| alternative form | paper mache |
| alternative form | paper machee |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | papier-mâchés |
| present participle | papier-mâchéing |
| past participle | papier-mâchéd |
| past | papier-mâchéd |
| past participle | papier-mâchéed |
| past | papier-mâchéed |
Origin of papier-mâché
Unadapted borrowing from French papier mâché (literally “chewed-up paper”). See French papier and mâcher, respectively related to the English words paper and masticate.
Words that rhyme with papier-mâché
Questions about papier-mâché
- What does papier-mâché mean?
- Papier-mâché means 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.
- What is papier-mâché in Tamil?
- Papier-mâché in Tamil is தாள் ஊறல் (tāḷ ūṟal). See Papier-mâché meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use papier-mâché in a sentence?
- In a giddy moment they had also papier-mâchéd the legs of the card table.
- What part of speech is papier-mâché?
- Papier-mâché can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce papier-mâché?
- Papier-mâché is pronounced /ˌpap.ɪ.eɪˈmaʃ.eɪ/ (UK).
Words near papier-mâché in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-papier-mâché.ogg.
Cite this entry: “papier-mâché.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/papier-m%C3%A2ch%C3%A9. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.