cellophane

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-der.

Latin cella

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -ula

Latin cellulalbor.

French cellule

Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.?

Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos?

Old Latin -ōssus

Latin -ōsuslbor.

French -ose

French cellulosebor.

English cellulose

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *dwísder.

Ancient Greek διά (diá)

Ancient Greek δῐᾰ- (dĭă-)

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-né-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti

Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō

Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō)

Ancient Greek δῐᾰφαίνω (dĭăphaínō)

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ēs

Proto-Hellenic *-ēs

Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs)

Ancient Greek -ής (-ḗs)

Ancient Greek δῐᾰφᾰνής (dĭăphănḗs)bor.

Medieval Latin diaphanus

Middle French diaphanebor.

English diaphane

blend

English cellophane

Genericized trademark. Blend of cellulose +‎ diaphane.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sělʹəfān, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛləfeɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

cellophane (countable and uncountable, plural cellophanes)

1. Any of a variety of transparent plastic films, especially one made of processed cellulose.

   Coordinate terms: celluloid, cellulose acetate

   • 1967, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, The Beatles (music):

     Cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head

Derived terms

• cellophane noodle
• cellotaph
• sellotape
• Sellotape

Related terms

• -phane (and its derivatives)

Translations

the transparent plastic film

• Arabic: سِيلُوفَان m (silufān)
• Armenian: ցելոֆան (hy) (cʻelofan)
• Azerbaijani: selofan
• Catalan: cel·lofana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玻璃紙 / 玻璃纸 (zh) (bōlizhǐ)

• Czech: celofán m
• Danish: cellofan (da) n
• Finnish: sellofaani (fi)
• French: cellophane (fr) f
• Georgian: ცელოფანი (celopani)
• German: Cellophan (de) n, Zellglas n
• Greek: σελοφάν (el) n (selofán)
• Hindi: पन्नी (hi) f (pannī), सिलोफ़न (silofan)
• Hungarian: celofán (hu)
• Indonesian: selofan (id)
• Italian: cellofan (it) m
• Japanese: セロファン (ja) (serofan), セロハン (ja) (serohan)
• Korean: 셀로판 (sellopan)
• Malay: selofan
• Māori: takai kōataata
• Polish: celofan (pl) m
• Portuguese: celofane m
• Romanian: celofan (ro) n
• Russian: целлофа́н (ru) m (cellofán)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: целофан m

  Latin: celofan (sh) m

• Sicilian: cèlufan m
• Spanish: celofán (es) m, celo (es) m
• Swedish: cellofan (sv) n
• Tagalog: selopin
• Thai: กระดาษแก้ว (th) (grà-dàat-gɛ̂ɛo), เซลโลเฟน
• Turkish: selofan (tr)

Verb

cellophane (third-person singular simple present cellophanes, present participle cellophaning, simple past and past participle cellophaned)

1. (transitive) To wrap or package in cellophane.

French

Etymology

Genericized trademark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ.lɔ.fan/ ~ /se.lɔ.fan/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

cellophane m (uncountable)

1. cellophane

Further reading

• “cellophane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Noun

cellophane m

1. cellophane

   Synonym: cellofan