Word.ws English Dictionary

sellotape

/ˈsɛləteɪp/

sellotape noun: adhesive tape.

sellotape: adhesive tape
Image: BarberJP, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

sellotape (countable and uncountable, plural sellotapes)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) Adhesive tape.

Verb (1)

sellotape (third-person singular simple present sellotapes, present participle sellotaping, simple past and past participle sellotaped)

  1. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, transitive) To seal with adhesive tape.
    • The door was slightly ajar, with a newspaper cartoon sellotaped to it:2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 258

Noun (2) capitalized: Sellotape

Sellotape (usually uncountable, plural Sellotapes)

  1. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, usually) A brand of adhesive tape (and similar products) similar to Scotch tape (US).

Verb (2) capitalized: Sellotape

Sellotape (third-person singular simple present Sellotapes, present participle Sellotaping, simple past and past participle Sellotaped)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of sellotape.
    • On one car he Sellotaped the ticket over the windscreen wiper.1983, Joel Richman, Traffic Wardens: An Ethnography of Street Administration, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 69
    • He stood on his bed then Sellotaped the mermaid picture on to his wall so she would be the first thing he would see when he woke up.2009, Janis Mackay, Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest, Kelpies, published 2011, →ISBN

Synonyms of sellotape

Forms of sellotape

Noun
pluralsellotapes
pluralSellotapes
Verb
third-person singular presentsellotapes
present participlesellotaping
past participlesellotaped
pastsellotaped
third-person singular presentSellotapes
present participleSellotaping
past participleSellotaped
pastSellotaped

Origin of sellotape

English sellotape Genericized trademark from Sellotape, a blend of cellophane + tape. The spelling with S- was to avoid an existing trademark on the word Cellophane itself.

Brand name, from cellophane tape. The first letter was changed to avoid infringing the then-extant trademark on cellophane.

Questions about sellotape

What does sellotape mean?
Sellotape means adhesive tape.
What part of speech is sellotape?
Sellotape can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce sellotape?
Sellotape is pronounced /ˈsɛləteɪp/.
What is the plural of sellotape?
The plural of sellotape is sellotapes.

Words near sellotape in the dictionary

  1. Sellners
  2. sello
  3. selloff
  4. selloffs
  5. Sellon
  6. sellotape
  7. sellotaped
  8. sellotapes
  9. sellotaping
  10. sellout
  11. sellouts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sellotape (page history and authors); Sellotape (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sellotape.wav.

Cite this entry: “sellotape.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sellotape. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.