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pad¹

  • /pæd/ Australia, US, UK
  • /pad/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /pɛd/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

1554, "bundle of straw to lie on". Unknown, and unclear whether all senses have a common etymology. For sense "ends of a digit", cf. Low German or West Flemish pad (“sole of the foot”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to pass”), which would make it related to both path and find.

noun pads

  1. A flattened mass of anything soft, to sit or lie on.
  2. A cushion used as a saddle without a tree or frame.
  3. A soft, or small, cushion.
  4. A cushion-like thickening of the skin on the underside of the toes of animals.
  5. The mostly hairless flesh located on the bottom of an animal's foot or paw.
  6. Any cushion-like part of the human body, especially the ends of the fingers. Collie ignored him. Reached the finger further. Closer. And closer yet, until — […] Collie yanked his hand back and peered at it like a kid with an interesting new scrape. Then he turned to Steve and held it out. A bead of blood, small and dark and perfect, was forming on the pad of his index finger

    Similar: palp, pulp

  7. A stuffed guard or protection, especially one worn on the legs of horses to prevent bruising.
  8. A soft bag or cushion to relieve pressure, support a part, etc.
  9. A menstrual pad; a mass of absorbent material used to absorb menstrual flow. In this study, when the views of the mothers on the tiring/straining situations during their daughters’ adolescence are examined, it is determined that the mothers mostly have difficulties in using the pads of their daughters, cleaning the hairs in the armpit and genital area, and bathing their daug
  10. US A floating leaf of a water lily or similar plant.
  11. A soft cover for a batsman's leg that protects the player from damage when hit by the ball.
  12. A kind of cushion for writing upon, or for blotting, especially one formed of many flat sheets of writing paper; now especially such a block of paper sheets as used to write on.
  13. A panel or strip of material designed to be sensitive to pressure or touch.
  14. abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of keypad
  15. abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of mouse pad
  16. A flat surface or area from which a helicopter or other aircraft may land or be launched.
  17. An electrical extension cord with a multi-port socket on one end; a "trip cord".
  18. The effect produced by sustained lower reed notes in a musical piece, most common in blues music.
  19. A synthesizer instrument sound used for sustained background sounds.

    Similar: synth pad

  20. US, slang A bed.
  21. colloquial A small house, apartment, or mobile home occupied by a single person, such as a bachelor, playboy, etc.
  22. UK, slang A prison cell.
  23. A random key (originally written on a disposable pad) of the same length as the plaintext.
  24. The amount by which a signal has been reduced. It is a general practice to pad down a condenser mike with as much as a 20-30 dB pad.
  25. A piece of timber fixed on a beam to fit the curve of the deck. let us at least trust that the hair-pins will do their duty, and maintain the respectability of passion by holding the pads and puffs and frizettes in their proper places.
  26. An exposed area of copper on a printed circuit board meant for connecting wires or electronic components.
  27. slang A tablet PC.

verb pads · padding · padded

  1. transitive To stuff.
  2. transitive To furnish with a pad or padding.
  3. transitive To increase the size of, especially by adding undesirable filler. The author began to pad her succinct stories with trite descriptions to keep up with current market trends.
  4. transitive To imbue uniformly with a mordant. to pad cloth
  5. transitive To deliberately play the ball with the leg pad instead of the bat.
  6. To walk with soft steps. pad down the corridor

pad²

  • /pæd/ Australia, US, UK
  • /pad/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /pɛd/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

From Middle English pade, padde, from Old English padde, from Proto-West Germanic *paddā, from Proto-Germanic *paddǭ (“toad”). Cognate with Dutch pad, German Low German Pad (“toad”), dialectal German Padde, Danish padde, Swedish padda, Icelandic padda (“toad”), and possibly to English paddle. Doublet of pode

noun pads · padde

  1. UK, dialectal A toad.

pad³

  • /pæd/ Australia, US, UK
  • /pad/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /pɛd/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

From Dutch pad or Middle Low German pat (“path”). Doublet of path.

noun pads

  1. Australia, Ireland, UK, dialectal A path, particularly one unformed or unmaintained; a track made by animals. We led the horses along an animal pad that zigzagged down the one accessible descent.
  2. An easy-paced horse; a padnag. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, / An abbot on an ambling pad, / Sometimes a curly shepherd lad, / Or long-hair'd page, in crimson clad, / Goes by to Camelot.
  3. UK, obsolete A robber who infests the road on foot; a highwayman or footpad. A Pad came pacing down the way : / The Cur, with never-ceasing tongue , / Upon the passing trav'ler sprung
  4. UK, obsolete A tramp or itinerant musician.

pad⁴

  • /pæd/ Australia, US, UK
  • /pad/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /pɛd/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

Perhaps an alteration of ped.

noun pads

  1. UK, dialectal A type of wickerwork basket, especially as used as a measure of fish or other goods.

pad⁵

  • /pæd/ Australia, US, UK
  • /pad/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /pɛd/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

Probably partly from Middle Low German pat, partly imitative. Some senses possibly influenced by pad (“soft part of an animal's foot”, noun).

verb pads · padding · padded

  1. transitive To travel along (a road, path etc.). Padding the streets for half a crown.
  2. intransitive To travel on foot.
  3. intransitive To wear a path by walking. Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? [...]
  4. intransitive To walk softly, quietly or steadily, especially without shoes. Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses, while the Rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out...
  5. intransitive, obsolete To practise highway robbery. Their chief Argument is, That they never saw any Witches, therefore there are none. Just as if you or I should say, We never met with any Robbers on the Road, therefore there never was any Padding there.

pad⁶

  • /pæd/ Australia, US, UK
  • /pad/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /pɛd/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

Probably imitative, perhaps related to or influenced by Etymology 5, above.

interjection

  1. Indicating a soft flat sound, as of bare footsteps. I heard her soft footsteps, pad, pad along the corridor.

noun pads

  1. The sound of soft footsteps, or a similar noise made by an animal etc.

PAD⁷

  • /ˌpi.eɪˈdi/ US

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of peripheral artery disease

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: bolster, embroider, footslog, embellish, lodgings, digs, launchpad, inkpad, lard, trudge, stamp pad, launch pad, domiciliation, blow up, slog, tablet

Translations

Every language

noun flattened mass of anything soft

Españolalmohadilla, pad
日本語パッド paddo
中文墊 /垫 diàn, 墊子 /垫子 diànzi
Françaistampon, coussinet, coussinette
DeutschUnterlage, Polster, Kissen, Matte, Polsterung
Русскийподкла́дка podkládka, прокла́дка prokládka, поду́шечка podúšečka

noun cushion used as saddle

Françaiscoussinet
DeutschReitkissen

noun soft or small cushion

Españolalmohadilla
Françaiscoussinette
Русскийподу́шечка podúšečka

noun cushion-like thickening of the skin on the underside of the toes of animals

한국어발볼록살 balbolloksal, 육구 yukgu
日本語肉球 nikukyū
中文肉墊 /肉垫 ròudiàn, 爪墊 /爪垫 zhuǎdiàn
Françaiscoussinet
DeutschPolster, Ballen

noun animal's foot or paw

中文肉墊 /肉垫 ròudiàn
Françaiscoussinet
DeutschPfote

noun any cushion-like part of human body

DeutschBallen, Fettpolster, Polster

noun stuffed guard or protection

DeutschSchutzpolster, Schoner, Knieschoner, Schienbeinschoner, Unterlage, Schutzunterlage

noun soft bag or cushion

DeutschStützpolster, Stütze, Nackenstütze, Kopfstütze, Armstütze
Italianocercine, torsello

noun floating leaf of a water plant

DeutschSeerosenblatt

noun cricket: batsman's leg pad

DeutschSchienbeinschoner

noun block of paper

Españolpad
Portuguêsbloco
Françaisbloc
DeutschBlock, Schreibblock, Notizblock, Abreissblock, Schulblock, Schreibunterlage
Italianoblocco

noun panel or strip of material sensitive to pressure or touch

DeutschKontaktmatte, Graphiktablett, Durchschreibepapier

noun keypad

Françaispavé numérique, clavier (de téléphone)
DeutschTastatur, Klaviatur, Klappenpolster

noun flat surface or area from which a helicopter or other aircraft may land or be launched

DeutschLandeplatz, Startplattform, Starttisch
Русскийплоща́дка ploščádka, стол stol

noun slang: bed

Françaispieu, plumard, plume, paddock

noun colloquial: place of residence

Françaispiaule, taule
Русскийжилье žilʹje, жилище žilišče

verb figuratively: to fill or lengthen

Españolmeter floro
Deutschfüllen, verlängern

verb to furnish with a pad or padding

Españolacolchar, acolchonar
Françaisrembourrer
Deutschstopfen, hineinstopfen

verb to walk softly, quietly or steadily

Deutschtappen

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Cite this
MLA

"pad." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pad. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pad. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pad

Chicago

"pad." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pad.

BibTeX
@misc{pad_2026,
  title = {pad},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pad},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}