DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Pa·py·rus n.; pl. Papyri
 1. Bot. A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.
 2. The material upon which the ancient Egyptians wrote. It was formed by cutting the stem of the plant into thin longitudinal slices, which were gummed together and pressed.
 3. A manuscript written on papyrus; esp., pl., written scrolls made of papyrus; as, the papyri of Egypt or Herculaneum.
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 Cyperus papyrus
      n : tall sedge of the Nile valley yielding fiber that served
          many purposes in historic times [syn: papyrus, Egyptian
          paper reed, Egyptian paper rush, paper rush, paper
          plant]