pad

Pad, a cushion, is of obscure origin; pad, to walk softly, is probably from Middle Dutch paden, from pad, a path.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pæd/^[4]

pad¹ cushion

Etymology

It is a word of unknown or obscure origin,^[1][2][3][5] perhaps a merger of several separate words,^[2] possibly related to Low German or obsolete Flemish pad, the sole of the foot.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bundle of straw to lie on: 1554, the 1550s in Etymonline.^[1][2][6]

Semantic evolution

A soft stuffed saddle is from 1570,^[1] and something soft like a cushion from before 1700.^[1][2] The slang sense, a bed, is from 1718,^[1] later underworld slang for a sleeping place, and was revived about 1959 in beatnik and hippie speech for a temporary place to sleep or take drugs,^[2][5] becoming a general word for a place to live in the 1970s.^[5] The fleshy cushion of an animal's foot is from 1836–39.^[1][2] A writing or drawing pad of paper is first recorded in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend (1865),^[1][2] and a launching pad for rockets from 1949.^[1][2] The verb, to stuff, is from 1827,^[2][1] to fill out writing with extraneous matter from 1831, in Macaulay,^[1][2] and to inflate an expense account by 1890–1913.^[2][1] A padded cell is from 1862.^[2]

Timeline

• 1554 – a bundle of straw.^[1]
• 1570 – a soft saddle.^[1]
• 1718 – a bed (slang).^[1]
• 1827 – to stuff (verb).^[2]
• 1865 – a writing pad.^[1]
• 1949 – a launch pad.^[1]
• c. 1959 – a place to live (slang).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A thick piece of soft material used to cushion, protect or give shape.
2. A number of sheets of paper fastened together at one edge.
3. An ink-soaked cushion for a rubber stamp.
4. The fleshy cushion on the underside of an animal's foot.
5. A flat area for helicopters or rocket launches.
6. (slang) A person's home or flat.

Verb

1. To line or stuff with soft material.
2. To lengthen speech or writing with unnecessary material, or to inflate an account.

Word family

• padding
• padded

pad² walk

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle Dutch paden (“to walk along a path, make a path”), from pad, pat, path (see path),^[1][2][6] or from Low German padden, to tread, perhaps imitative of the sound of feet.^[3][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To walk, tramp, trudge: 1553, the 1550s in Etymonline, originally a cant word of criminals and vagabonds.^[1][2][5]

Semantic evolution

English also had the noun pad, a path or road, from the 1560s, originally slang,^[2][7] hence robbery on the highway (1664) and a highway robber (1673),^[7] and the source of footpad.^[5] To walk with soft, dull-sounding steps is first recorded in 1871.^[1]

Timeline

• 1553 – to tramp.^[1]
• 1567 – a path (noun).^[7]
• 1673 – a highwayman.^[7]
• 1871 – to walk softly.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To walk softly or with muffled steps.
2. To go on foot; to tramp along a route.

Noun

1. The soft, muffled sound of footsteps.

Word family

• footpad

Related words

• path

Usage notes

Pad was also an old word for a toad, from Old Norse padda (see paddock).^[8][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press