a tall aquatic cyperaceous plant, Cyperus papyrus, of S Europe and N and central Africa with small green-stalked flowers arranged likeumbrella spokes around the stem top
2.
a kind of paper made from the stem pith of this plant, used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans
3.
an ancient document written on this paper
Word origin
C14: via Latin from Greek papūros reed used in making paper
Examples of 'papyri' in a sentence
papyri
Another site displays a collection of papyri.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
What have finds of papyri taught us so far?
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
Hundreds of papyri began to emerge from the hillocks.
The Times Literary Supplement (2015)
Her bibliography ranges from primary sources in 1st-century papyri to accounts of modern excavations.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The papyri are broken and illegible; you must assemble an intelligible jigsaw from jagged fragments, truncated lines and eroded ink.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Even the papyri that were damaged by being opened manually are yielding remarkable results from better microscopes and infrared imaging.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
The papyri have introduced us to a prosperous class of shipowners and skippers and to public doctors.