red tape

English

Bundle of US pension documents from 1906 bound in red tape

Etymology

• Thought to allude to the former practice of binding government documents in red-coloured tape

Noun

red tape (uncountable)

Wikipedia

1. (idiomatic) Time-consuming regulations or bureaucratic procedures.

   All the red tape and paperwork that goes on there prevents any progress.

Synonyms

• administrivia
• administrativia
• paperwork

Translations

excessive bureaucracy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繁文縟節 (cmn), 繁文缛节 (cmn) (fánwénrùjié)

• Finnish: paperisota (fi)
• French: impôt papier (fr) m, paperasserie (fr) f
• German: Amtsschimmel (de) m
• Japanese: 繁文縟礼 (ja) (hanbun jokurei), レッドテープ (ja) (reddo teepu), (slang) お役所さんの仕事 (ja) (o-yakusho-san no shigoto)

• Portuguese: burocracia (pt) f
• Russian: бюрократизм (ru) (bjurokratízm) m, канцелярщина (ru) (kanceljárščina) f, волокита (ru) (volokíta) f
• Spanish: papeleo (es) m, burocracia (es) f

Anagrams

• adepter
• predate
• retaped
• tapered