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sellotape.

Adhesive tape.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsɛləteɪp/
  1. Adhesive tape.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-der. Latin cella Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -ula Latin cellulabor. French cellule Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsuslbor. French -ose French cellulosebor. English cellulose Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ- (dĭă-) Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō) Ancient Greek δῐᾰφαίνω (dĭăphaínō) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ēs Proto-Hellenic *-ēs Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs) Ancient Greek -ής (-ḗs) Ancient Greek δῐᾰφᾰνής (dĭăphănḗs)bor. Medieval Latin diaphanus Middle French diaphanebor. English diaphane blend English cellophane Old English tæppa Middle English tape English tape blend English Sellotape English sellotape Genericized trademark from Sellotape, a blend of cellophane + tape. The spelling with S- was to avoid an existing trademark on the word Cellophane itself.

verb/ˈsɛləteɪp/
  1. To seal with adhesive tape.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · UK · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-der. Latin cella Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -ula Latin cellulabor. French cellule Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsuslbor. French -ose French cellulosebor. English cellulose Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ- (dĭă-) Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō) Ancient Greek δῐᾰφαίνω (dĭăphaínō) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ēs Proto-Hellenic *-ēs Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs) Ancient Greek -ής (-ḗs) Ancient Greek δῐᾰφᾰνής (dĭăphănḗs)bor. Medieval Latin diaphanus Middle French diaphanebor. English diaphane blend English cellophane Old English tæppa Middle English tape English tape blend English Sellotape English sellotape Genericized trademark from Sellotape, a blend of cellophane + tape. The spelling with S- was to avoid an existing trademark on the word Cellophane itself.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.