Paperwork is the forms and records a job requires. Endless paperwork, do the paperwork, the paperwork came through.
The word survived the paper: people still call it paperwork when every form is on a screen, which is a good example of a name outliving the thing it named. It is nearly always complained about. Note the compound of paper and work.
1nounpaperworkThe forms and records a job requires.
“Buying a house involves a lot of paperwork.”
paperwork is administrative work.
Paper plus work. The name has outlived the paper, since digital forms are still called paperwork.
From paper + work.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA