paperback

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a book bound with a flexible paper or card cover

   She bought a lightweight paperback to read on the train.

2. 2
   adj

   published or bound with a flexible paper cover

   The novel appeared in paperback format a year after its first edition.

Formed from paper + back, shortening the older phrase paper-backed book. The name contrasts its flexible paper cover with the rigid boards of a hardback.

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