Meanings
nounpaperweight (plural paperweights)
plural paperweights · alternative archaic paper-weight
- A small, decorative, somewhat weighty object placed on one or more pieces of paper to keep them from fluttering away.
The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.
2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist - Any object used for this purpose.
John used his coffee mug as a paperweight.
- slangA useless piece of equipment.
On Windows, the card has a working driver. On Linux right now, it's a paperweight.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian преспапие́
- преспапие́ (prespapié)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Catalan petjapapers
- petjapaperssmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Chinese Mandarin 鎮紙 /镇纸, 紙鎮 /纸镇
- 鎮紙 /镇纸 (zhènzhǐ)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- 紙鎮 /纸镇 (zhǐzhèn)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- 書鎮 /书镇 (shūzhèn)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- 紙壓 /纸压 (zhǐyā)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Czech těžítko, těžítko
- těžítkosmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- těžítkoany object used for this purpose
Dutch presse-papier
- presse-papiersmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Finnish paperipaino, paperipaino
- paperipainosmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- paperipainoany object used for this purpose
- verkonpainoslang: useless object
French presse-papiers, presse-papier
- presse-papierssmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- presse-papiersmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- presse-papiersany object used for this purpose
German Briefbeschwerer, Briefbeschwerer
- Briefbeschwerersmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- Briefbeschwererany object used for this purpose
Greek πρες παπιέ
- πρες παπιέ (pres papié)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Hungarian papírnehezék, nehezék
- papírnehezéksmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- nehezékany object used for this purpose
- papírnehezékany object used for this purpose
Irish tromán páipéir
- tromán páipéirsmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Italian fermacarte, fermacarte
- fermacartesmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- fermacarteany object used for this purpose
Japanese 文鎮, 卦算
- 文鎮 (bunchin)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- 卦算 (keisan)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Korean 문진
- 문진 (munjin)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Norwegian Bokmål brevpresse, papirvekt
- brevpressesmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- papirvektsmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Polish przycisk do papieru, przycisk do papieru
- przycisk do papierusmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- przycisk do papieruany object used for this purpose
- złomslang: useless object
Portuguese pisa-papéis, peso de papel
- pisa-papéissmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- peso de papelsmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- pisa-papéisany object used for this purpose
- peso de papelany object used for this purpose
Romanian prespapier
- prespapiersmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Russian пресс-папье́, пресс-папье́
- пресс-папье́ (press-papʹjé)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- пресс-папье́ (press-papʹjé)any object used for this purpose
Slovak ťažítko
- ťažítkosmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Spanish pisapapeles, pisapapeles
- pisapapelessmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- pisapapelesany object used for this purpose
Swedish brevpress
- brevpresssmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Thai ที่ทับกระดาษ
- ที่ทับกระดาษsmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Turkish prespapye
- prespapyesmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Ukrainian прес-пап'є́
- прес-пап'є́ (pres-papʺjé)small, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Vietnamese bàn thẩm, chặn giấy
- bàn thẩmsmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
- chặn giấysmall, decorative, somewhat weighty object
Cite this entry
APA
paperweight. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paperweight
MLA
“paperweight.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paperweight. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “paperweight,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paperweight.
Source: paperweight on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.