chartaceous

9.9

Having a thin texture like paper

adjective
/ˌtʃɑːrˈteɪʃəs/

Specialized

: papiráceo

Botanists often describe sepals as chartaceous when they resemble thin paper.

Examples

The dried leaf had a distinctly chartaceous feel when touched.
The chartaceous bracts separated easily from the stem.
That paper feels chartaceous.
Look at how chartaceous this leaf is!
The dried leaf had a distinctly chartaceous feel when touched.
Botanists often describe sepals as chartaceous when they resemble thin paper.
The chartaceous bracts separated easily from the stem.

Synonyms

paper-thin

vschartaceous

8 3.9

Very thin and easily damaged, like a sheet of paper

focuses on thinness rather than primarily on surface texture

papery

vschartaceous

3 4.8

Thin and like paper in feel or look

is the technical term used in scientific contexts for the same texture

paperlike

vschartaceous

1 4.1

Feels thin, flat and dry like paper

is the more technical label rather than everyday descriptive wording

tissuey

vschartaceous

1 6.7

Thin and light like tissue paper

is used for a firmer writing material feel rather than extreme softness

sheetlike

vschartaceous

1 5.2

Thin and flat like a sheet

describes texture similarity rather than shape or flat form

tissue-like

vschartaceous

1 3.7

Very thin, soft, and easy to tear like paper used for cleaning

refers to a firmer texture not necessarily soft or easily torn

Antonyms

thick

625 1.0

Having a large distance between two sides and often very dense

How Papery

chartaceous

Specialized

9.9

membranous

Specialized

1 7.4

thin

422 1.0

delicate

129 3.8

Surface Forms

chartaceous positive

Morphology

chartaceous = chart (opaque) = chart + aceous

Although the word is formally built from chart + -aceous, the meaning 'papery' depends on an older sense of chart related to paper, not the modern English noun.

Etymology

Chartaceous comes from the Latin word charta, meaning 'paper'. Think of a chart (a sheet of paper with information), so chartaceous describes something that feels thin and 'papery'.