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

Doodles from pen trials were never meant to be seen by the future reader as the flyleaf would later be glued to wooden covers.

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

On the flyleaf of his Infantry Drill Regulations manual, Edward wrote:

From Slate • May 16, 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

Now, for the third time since he had returned from the hospital that day, he opened the woman’s book and read the brief inscription on the flyleaf.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger