What does parchment mean?
Parchment is a durable writing surface made from animal skin that has been cleaned, stretched, and prepared. Before paper became widely available, it was one of the principal materials used for important manuscripts, religious texts, legal records, and official documents. Its use also carried associations with learning, authority, antiquity, and preservation, because a parchment document could survive for centuries in a relatively legible state. Today, the word commonly refers both to the material itself and, by extension, to a document written on it. “Parchment paper” is a different, modern product made from thin paper treated with a coating, although the shared name reflects the traditional appearance of parchment. The word remains useful in historical, legal, artistic, and conservation contexts, where it distinguishes animal-skin writing material from ordinary paper and from more specific materials such as vellum.
A thin, tough material made from prepared animal skin, traditionally used for writing, drawing, and binding; also, a document made from this material.
"The lettering on the parchment remains clear after several centuries."
Countable when referring to individual documents; commonly uncountable when referring to the material.
Made of parchment or resembling parchment in appearance or texture.
"The manuscript contains several parchment leaves bound between wooden boards."
This use is less common than the noun and is often encountered in specialist or historical contexts.
To write on parchment; in older usage, to cover or seal something with parchment.
"The scribe parchmented the charter before it was sealed."
This verb is rare and chiefly historical or literary.
Use the plural when referring to separate documents or pieces of parchment; the material itself is often uncountable.
"Several valuable parchments are displayed in the medieval gallery."
Before paper became widespread in Europe, the most valuable documents were often written on animal skin—so many important words begin with the word “charter.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does parchment come from?
The English word comes through Old French parchemin from a medieval Latin form derived from Latin pergamenum. Latin pergamenum was borrowed from Greek pergamēnē, a term for a writing material associated with Pergamon in ancient Asia Minor. The Greek name helped establish parchment's association with prestigious prepared leather and with the library of Pergamum, from which the wider literary story of the library of Pergamum also derives.
Related word forms
How parchment is actually used
As a material, “parchment” is generally uncountable; as a reference to an individual document, it is countable. “Vellum” is a related and sometimes overlapping term, but it has a more specific historical and material sense.
Easily confused with parchment
Parchment is a general term for prepared animal skin used as a writing material, while vellum specifically refers to fine-grained calf, lamb, or goat skin prepared for writing or bookbinding.