flyleaf

American  

[flahy-leef] / ˈflaɪˌlif /

noun

plural

flyleaves

1. a blank leaf in the front or the back of a book.

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flyleaf British  

/ ˈflaɪˌliːf /

noun

1. the inner leaf of the endpaper of a book, pasted to the first leaf

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Etymology

Origin of flyleaf

1825–35; fly ² (noun, in combination: something fastened by the edge) + leaf

Example Sentences

After trimming the nib, the scribe would usually test the pen on a blank piece of parchment or flyleaf to make sure that his letters were legible.

From Salon • Oct. 15, 2022

In 1993, his lawyers succeeded in forcing the publisher of a book by Harry Hurt III, “Lost Tycoon,” to add an explanation of the encounter on the book’s flyleaf.

From Washington Post • Jul. 14, 2022

Perhaps in the 16th Century it was already hard to read, or the flyleaf was loose?

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2020

It was a children’s book, first given to my father, according to a faded flyleaf inscription, by two aunts who had bought it in Honolulu in 1939.

From The New Yorker • May 25, 2015

She looked at the four entries on the flyleaf.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith