chad English · revision 14940

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=by 1930}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʃæd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) Merriam-Webster suggests a Scots word for gravel,^(MWU 2024) Collins a form based on [[chaff]],^(Collins 2023) and Etymonline notes that it is identical with a dialect variant of chat, a dry twig or dry fragments in food.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The waste piece left when a hole is punched in paper: attested by 1930 in Etymonline, 1944 in Merriam-Webster, 1959 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Few people knew the word until the US presidential election of 2000, when the result depended on partly punched paper ballots in some Florida counties.^(Etymonline) Chadless, not producing chads, is from 1959.^(OED 1989) In the dialects of Scotland and East Anglia chad was the gravel of a river bed,^(Wright 1898) and in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire a small drainage trench.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * by 1930 – chad.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1959 – chadless.^(OED 1989)

+ * 2000 – chads in the US election.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The small pieces of paper or card removed when holes are punched in paper tape, cards or [[ballot|alt=ballots]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chadless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chaff]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Chad, or Mr Chad, the British wartime graffiti face peering over a wall with the caption “Wot, no —?” (1945), is a separate word of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The country Chad is named after Lake Chad, from a local word meaning lake.^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}