Paper

Paper is a flat, supple material often used as a medium for writing, printing, packaging, and cleaning.

Paper is made from vegetable fibers most commonly from the pulp of pulpwood trees but can be made from cotton, hemp, linen, and rice fibers as well.

In earlier times parchment, or vellum, was used to write on. It was made from animal hide like sheepskin. The term paper comes from the word papyrus, which was one of the original forms of paper. The papyrus plant, which was used to make papyrus paper, only grew in warmer climates. A sheet of papyrus paper was made by soaking thin strips of papyrus in water and then pressing them together in a woven sheet.