chad

IPA/tʃæd/
KK[tʃˈæd]IPA/tʃæd/

chad — noun

  • chadsingular
  • chadsplural

1. a small bit of paper or thin card cut out by a hole punch

1.nounB2
Definition

a small bit of paper or thin card cut out by a hole punch

Example

Mina brushed the chads off the desk after punching fifty name tags.

brush chads off + surface after punching

A single chad jammed the card reader during the school election.

a chad jammed + machine

Common collocations
  • hanging chad
  • loose chads
  • a tray of chads
  • brush away chads
  • a chad jammed the reader
Synonyms
  • paper scrap

    broader and less exact — it can mean any small leftover piece of paper

  • punch-out

    more technical or manufacturing-oriented than the office and ballot sense of 'chad'

Grammar Patterns

a chad + in/on + [machine/ballot]

a tray/pile of chads

hanging chad

Usage Note

Usually countable when you mean one piece or several pieces left by punching holes. In election reporting, a 'hanging chad' is one that is still partly attached to the ballot.

Common Mistakes

There was chad all over the desk.
There were chads all over the desk.
when many pieces are scattered around, English normally uses the plural count noun.
One chads was stuck in the slot.
One chad was stuck in the slot.
after 'one', use the singular form.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Chad' names the small piece cut away when a hole is punched through paper or card. 'Confetti' may look similar, but it is thrown for celebration, not produced as waste from punching. 'Paper scrap' is much broader and can mean any leftover bit after cutting, tearing, or trimming. 'Punch-out' is closer in technical meaning, especially in manufacturing, but it sounds more industrial and less tied to ballots or office tools. So you might sweep chads off a desk after using a hole punch, throw confetti at a wedding, collect paper scraps after trimming posters, or inspect a punch-out from a machine part.

chad ↗confetti ↗paper scrappunch-out

Common collocations

Nouns

  • hanging chad
  • loose chad
  • tray of chads

Phrases

  • brush away chads
  • a chad jammed the reader
  • empty a tray of chads

Prepositions

  • on the ballot
  • in the reader
  • from the hole punch

Etymology

The origin of 'chad' is uncertain. It appears in twentieth-century English for the small piece cut out when paper or card is punched, especially in office and voting contexts.

First known use

1944

1944, in the meaning defined above