Yeah, but “paperback” doesn’t mean “book”, it means a specific kind of book.
Almost all my college English literature books (and I was an English major) were paperbacks. The only hardcover I remember was an epic tome of a Chaucer volume. I also recall Steven King and Tom Clancy books commonly available in hardcover as well. Whether a book is a paperback or a hardcover has no bearing on its literary value.
ETA: Now, I will say, that the term “paperback” does tend to connote popular fiction. But it’s not a general synonym for “book.” Tom Clancy and Steven King paperbacks are certainly “books.”
Rag is a perfectly analogous term to the one in the OP, and it came to mind immediately for me. Unfortunate that it refers to a magazine or tabloid rather than a book.
As others have noted, you might say that “book” itself is a colloquial term for “novel” in common usage.
I’m going to add to the consensus that “there just isn’t such a term in English”.
A previous poster suggested that this is probably in part because it’s already a Germanic-origin word, so we don’t feel “compelled” to popularize a homier, folksier equivalent, the way we often do with Latin- and French-origin words.
I’m going to add to the consensus that “there just isn’t such a term in English”.
A also agree with a previous poster who suggested that this is probably in part because it’s already a Germanic-origin word, so we don’t feel “compelled” to popularize a homier, folksier equivalent, the way we often do with Latin- and French-origin words.
This particular way of distinguishing “highafalutin’” and “down-home” words is difficult to explain to non-native English speakers. I’m reminded of the standard Spanish word for “rusty”, which is “oxidado”. It just feels so scientific, so soulless, to an English speaker…it’s hard for us to comprehend that a Spanish speaker can get the same kind of raw, earthy vibe from *oxidado *that we get from “rusty”.