paperwork

English

Etymology

paper +‎ work

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.pɚˌwɝk/, /ˈpeɪ.pɚ.wɚk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

paperwork (uncountable)

1. routine work involving written documents

   do paperwork

2. written documents
3. (hyperbolic) excessive paperwork, busy work, red tape.
4. (US, prison slang) Court documents or pre-sentencing investigation reports detailing the prisoner's criminal history (usually in the context of discerning whether an inmate has been charged for sex-related offenses or is likely to be an informant).

   to have bad paperwork ― to be charged with sex-related offenses or to likely be an informant

Synonyms

• administrativia
• administrivia

Translations

work involving written documents

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: писмена работа f (pismena rabota)
• Catalan: paperassa (ca) f, paperada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文書工作／文书工作 (wénshū gōngzuò), 公文處理／公文处理 (gōngwén chǔlǐ)

• Esperanto: paperoj (eo) pl
• Finnish: paperityöt, paperisota (fi)
• French: tâches administratives f pl
• German: Schreibarbeit (de) f, Papierkram (de) m
• Indonesian: kertas kerja (id)
• Italian: lavoro di documentazione
• Japanese: 事務処理 (じむしょり, jimushori), 文書業務 (もんじょぎょうむ, monjo gyōmu)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: kertas kerja
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: papirarbeid n

  Nynorsk: papirarbeid n

• Occitan: paperalha f
• Polish: papierkowa robota f
• Portuguese: papelada (pt) f
• Russian: канцеля́рская рабо́та f (kanceljárskaja rabóta), делопроизво́дство (ru) n (deloproizvódstvo)
• Spanish: papeleo (es) m
• Swedish: pappersarbete (sv) n, pappersjobb n
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

written documents

• Indonesian: kertas kerja (id)
• Italian: documentazione (it), fascicolo (it)
• Malay: kertas kerja
• Portuguese: papelada (pt)

excessive paperwork

• German: Papierkram (de) m
• Persian: کاغذبازی (fa) (kâğaz-bâzi)
• Portuguese: papelada (pt)

References

• “paperwork”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “paperwork” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Anagrams

• workpaper