Standard Lemma guide

sandpaper

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈsændˌpeɪpɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S AE1 N D P EY2 P ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Strong paper coated with (traditionally) sand or (today) manufactured aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or other abrasive material, used for smoothing and polishing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • Near-synonym: emery paper
  • They like to finish it off with a piece of 600-grit sandpaper before cleaning and painting.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sanding paper, emery paper

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: abrasive

2

noun

Meaning 2

A sheet of such paper.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

Examples

  • I need a scraper and a sandpaper over here.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To polish or grind (a surface) with or as if with sandpaper.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sand, sand down

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

stiff paper coated with powdered emery or sand

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: emery paper

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: abrasive, abradant, abrasive material

5

verb

Meaning 5

rub with sandpaper

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • sandpaper the wooden surface

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sand

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: smooth, smoothen

Narrower terms: rough-sand

History

Etymology

From sand + paper.

Across languages

Translations

134 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: skuurpapier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Albanian: zumpara — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Albanian: zumpare — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Arabic: وَرَق زُجَاج (waraq zujāj) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Armenian: հղկաթուղթ (hġkatʻuġtʻ) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Armenian: շուշաթուղթ (šušatʻuġtʻ) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Assamese: পালিচ কাগজ (palis kagoz) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Assamese: চিৰিচ কাগজ (siris kagoz) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Azerbaijani: zımpara — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Belarusian: нажда́чная папе́ра (naždáčnaja papjéra) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Bengali: শিরিষ-কাগজ (śiriś-kagoj) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Bulgarian: шку́рка (škúrka) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Catalan: paper de vidre — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Chinese Cantonese: 砂紙 /砂纸 (saa1 zi2) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 砂紙 /砂纸 (shāzhǐ) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Czech: smirkový papír — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Czech: brusný papír — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Danish: sandpapir — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Dutch: schuurpapier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Esperanto: sablopapero — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Estonian: abrasiivpaber — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Estonian: liivapaber — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Finnish: hiomapaperi — paper coated with abrasive material
  • French: papier de verre — paper coated with abrasive material
  • French: papier à poncer — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Galician: lixa — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Georgian: ზუმფარა (zumpara) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • German: Schleifpapier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • German: Schmirgelpapier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • German: Sandpapier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Greek: γυαλόχαρτο (gyalócharto) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Gujarati: રેતિયો કાગળ (retiyo kāgaḷ) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Hebrew: נְיַר לֶטֶשׁ (nyar létesh) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Hindi: रेगमाल (regmāl) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Hungarian: csiszolópapír — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Hungarian: dörzspapír — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Hungarian: smirgli — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Hungarian: smirglipapír — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Icelandic: sandpappír — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Indonesian: ampelas — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Indonesian: kertas abrasif — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Irish: páipéar gainimh — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Irish: páipéar scríobach — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Italian: carta vetrata — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Japanese: 研磨紙 (kenmashi) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Japanese: サンドペーパー (sandopēpā) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Japanese: 紙鑢 (kamiyasuri) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Kazakh: егеуқұм қағазы (egeuqūm qağazy) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Kazakh: қажауқағаз (qajauqağaz) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Khmer: ក្រដាសខ្សាច់ (krɑɑdaah khsac) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Korean: 사포 (sapo) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Kyrgyz: наждактуу кагаз (najdaktuu kagaz) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Lao: ກະດາດຊາຍ (ka dāt sāi) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Latin: harenae charta — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Latvian: smilšpapīrs — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Lithuanian: švitrinis popierius — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Luxembourgish: Sandpapier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Macedonian: шмиргла (šmirgla) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Malay: ampelas — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Malay: kertas lelas — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Māori: pepa whakamaene — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Mongolian: зүлгүүр (zülgüür) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Navajo: naaltsoos bee achʼiishígíí — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Norman: papi tîmbré — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sandpapir — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Norwegian Bokmål: slipepapir — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sandpapir — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: slipepapir — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Iranian Persian: سُنْبادِه (sonbâde) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Plautdietsch: Schiapapia — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Plautdietsch: Sauntpapia — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Polish: papier ścierny — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Polish: szmergiel — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Portuguese: lixa — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Romanian: șmirghel — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Romanian: hârtie abrazivă — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Russian: нажда́чная бума́га (naždáčnaja bumága) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Russian: нажда́чка (naždáčka) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Russian: шку́рка (škúrka) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Russian: шлифова́льная бума́га (šlifoválʹnaja bumága) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Scottish Gaelic: pàipear-gainmhich — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Serbo-Croatian: брусни папир — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Serbo-Croatian: brusni papir — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Slovak: brúsny papier — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Spanish: lija — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Spanish: papel de lija — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Swahili: msasa — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Swedish: sandpapper — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Swedish: slippapper — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Tagalog: liha — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Tajik: коғази сунбода (koġaz-i sunboda) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Tausug: gigidgid — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Thai: กระดาษทราย (grà-dàat-saai) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Tibetan: ཀོ་སག (ko sag) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Turkish: zımpara — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Ukrainian: нажда́чний папі́р (naždáčnyj papír) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Urdu: ریگ مال (reg māl) — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Uzbek: silliqlash qogʻozi — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Vietnamese: giấy nhám — paper coated with abrasive material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 砂紙片 /砂纸片 — a sheet
  • Estonian: lihvimisleht — a sheet
  • Finnish: hioma-arkki — a sheet
  • German: Schleifpapierbogen — a sheet
  • Gujarati: રેતિયો કાગળ (retiyo kāgaḷ) — a sheet
  • Latvian: slīpēšanas loksne — a sheet
  • Lithuanian: šlifavimo lakštas — a sheet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sandpapir — a sheet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: slipeark — a sheet
  • Polish: papier ścierny — a sheet
  • Polish: szmergiel — a sheet
  • Portuguese: lixa — a sheet
  • Russian: лист (list) — a sheet
  • Swedish: sandpapper — a sheet
  • Swedish: slipark — a sheet
  • Bulgarian: шкуря (škurja) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Catalan: escatar — to polish or grind a surface
  • Chinese Mandarin: 用砂紙打磨 /用砂纸打磨 (yòng shāzhǐ dǎmó) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Chinese Mandarin: 用砂紙拋光 /用砂纸抛光 (yòng shāzhǐ pāoguāng) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Finnish: hioa — to polish or grind a surface
  • French: poncer — to polish or grind a surface
  • German: abschleifen — to polish or grind a surface
  • German: abschmirgeln — to polish or grind a surface
  • Hungarian: csiszol — to polish or grind a surface
  • Hungarian: lecsiszol — to polish or grind a surface
  • Italian: scartavetrare — to polish or grind a surface
  • Korean: 사포로 닦다 (sapo-ro dakda) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Macedonian: шмиргла (šmirgla) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Norwegian: slipe — to polish or grind a surface
  • Polish: szlifować papierem ściernym — to polish or grind a surface
  • Portuguese: lixar — to polish or grind a surface
  • Russian: шлифова́ть (šlifovátʹ) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Russian: шку́рить (škúritʹ) — to polish or grind a surface
  • Spanish: lijar — to polish or grind a surface
  • Swedish: sandpappra — to polish or grind a surface