When talking about a physical book, as opposed to an e-book, which is correct: print book or printed book?
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2Isn't "book" sufficiently specific? To my mind the word book refers to a physical object, whereas an e-book refers to a particular type of electronic document.– LumberjackMay 11, 2015 at 15:13
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1If forced to qualify the word, I would choose "printed book" over "print book," but neither would be my first choice. I would probably say "real book" or "actual book."– LumberjackMay 11, 2015 at 15:17
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In "slang" it's called dead tree and here is another related question The opposite of paper being a dead-tree– Mari-Lou AMay 11, 2015 at 15:45
1 Answer
As lumberjack pointed out, book
should suffice here, but I answer to talk about the alternatives.
When talking about one individual book, and to set it apart from an eBook, using printed book
is more common than using print book
. As in,
"I bought a printed book"
Although in my opinion, in this situation, you're better off using the classic terms of paperback or hardback. As in:
I bought a paperback (or hardback)
Print books
is used rarely, and mostly in formal situations
Print isn't really an adjective. But one of its senses is this:
[uncountable] used to refer to the business of producing newspapers, magazines and books
which is used to form compound nouns like print media
or print unions
. Print books
would be uncommon and sound a bit formal, but it's not unheard-of.
But, since print
technically refers to the whole business, proper usage would require it to be used in that context. As in:
Our survey shows that readers prefer buying eBooks over print books.
(Printed books is equally applicable here.)
[Source - Oxford]
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1I have recently produced a book and during the promotional stages am being asked whether it is an ebook, soft cover (paperback) or hard cover (hardback). A book today can exist in digital or paper versions. I agree that print, as an adjective is rather arcane, but it is a useful collective adjective embracing hard and soft cover paper books, as opposed to digital books, and I prefer it to printed.– DanMay 11, 2015 at 21:29