The Abbreviation for Pages: What Is It and How Is It Used?

Do you want to know how to abbreviate the word pages?  We’ll be taking a look at the meaning of the word and its abbreviations. We’ll also review the history behind the word, synonyms, when and where to use the abbreviations, and examples of the word in context. 

First, let’s have a look at some common abbreviations for page:

  • pg. 
  • p.

 

The plural abbreviations are pgs. and pp. 

For example, in an MLA reference, you might write, “pp. 30-32.”

The plural form of the abbreviations are commonly used to denote a page range or page numbers, whereas the singular form indicates a single page.

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What Does Page Mean?

We’ll be looking at the meaning of the page, the singular form of the word pages.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of page is: 

Page [peyj]

noun

●    one side of a leaf of something printed or written, as a book, manuscript, or letter.

●    the entire leaf of such a printed or written thing: He tore out one of the pages.

●    a single sheet of paper for writing.

●    a noteworthy or distinctive event or period: a reign that formed a gloomy page in English history.

●    Printing. the typeset and arranged for a page.

●    Computers.

– a relatively small block of main or secondary storage, up to about 1024 words.

– a block of program instructions or data stored in main or secondary storage.

– (in word processing) a portion of a document.

– web page.

verb (used with object), paged, pag·ing.

●    to paginate.

●    to turn pages (usually followed by through): to page through a book looking for a specific passage.

Synonyms for Page

The History of the Word

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the origin of the word page can be traced to the 1580s, when it meant “sheet of paper, one side of a printed or written leaf of a book or pamphlet.” The word came to the English language from a Middle French word with the same spelling. The Old French pagene, “page, text,” derived from the Latin word pagina, which sometimes referred to “a strip of papyrus fastened to others.”

The verb, meaning “to turn pages,” only came about in 1943. Prior to that time, the verb would have referred to paginating a text.

When to Use the Abbreviation

The abbreviation is used to refer to particular pages, especially for reference or citation. For example, a researcher may use the abbreviation in academic writing, as part of in-text citations or reference lists. These standard abbreviations are recognized in the United States and other countries. You can find specific instructions for appropriate citation styles in your preferred style guide, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, the APA Style Publication Manual, the MLA Handbook, et cetera. The abbreviations can also be used for personal communication, note-taking, and shorthand. 

The abbreviations are not typically used to abbreviate additional definitions, such as the verb “to page” or a servant or apprentice to knighthood. 

Examples of the Word and Abbreviation in Context

“Scholarship link building is the practice of offering a scholarship for the purpose of attracting links from dot EDU web pages.”
—Search Engine Journal

“When it was over, the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump produced 135 days of partisan rancor, 17 witness accounts, more than 28,000 pages of documents and testimony, and one big loose end.”
—Reuters

“It took an author living in Virginia’s Northern Neck near the birthplace of our nation’s first president to craft the newest book about his mother— “Mary Ball Washington: The Unknown Story of George Washington’s Mother” (Harper, 368 pgs., $29.99).”
—The Virginia Gazette

“”Curriculum Vitae – African Ethnography | 1964 ‘The Sound of Bells in a Christian Country–In Quest of the Historical Schweitzer.’’  The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 5, No. 3, spring 1964, pp. 537-562.”
—African Ethnography Curriculum, University of Chicago

Sources:

  1. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=page
  2. https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/page?s=t
  3. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/page#
  4. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-reasons-scholarship-link-building-fails/336969/
  5. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-question-analys/in-trumps-impeachment-four-months-28000-pages-and-one-loose-end-idUSKBN1ZZ308
  6. https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/va-vg-kale-craig-shirley-0129-20200128-he34xpyu2naj5j6dzunhkzav2e-story.html
  7.  http://home.uchicago.edu/~jwf1/AfricanEthnog.htm
  8. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
  9. https://www.mla.org/Publications/Bookstore/Nonseries/MLA-Handbook-Eighth-Edition