What Is the Abbreviation for Pages?

p. and pp.

p. means one page: p. 42. pp. means more than one: pp. 42–48. Both take a full stop, because both are shortened forms of a longer word.

The doubled letter is not a typo. Doubling a letter to make a plural is an old scholarly convention that English inherited from Latin — the same rule gives you ll. for lines, vv. for verses and ff. for “and the following pages”.

Which style guide wants what

• APA — uses p. and pp. in in-text citations for direct quotations: (Smith, 2020, p. 42). In the reference list, journal page ranges take no abbreviation at all.
• MLA — drops the abbreviation in in-text citations entirely: (Smith 42). It uses p. and pp. in the Works Cited list.
• Chicago — uses p. and pp. in notes when the number might otherwise be ambiguous, and omits them when the context is clear.
• AP — writes it out. News copy says “page 42”, not p. 42.

The mistakes that cost marks

• Using pg. — common in everyday writing, accepted by no academic style guide. Use p.
• Using p. for a range — p. 42–48 is wrong. A range is more than one page, so it takes pp.
• A hyphen instead of an en dash — page ranges take an en dash: pp. 42–48, not pp. 42-48.
• Dropping the full stop — pp 42 is an abbreviation missing its marker. Both forms keep it.

Related abbreviations