cardboard

English

A cardboard box

Etymology

From card +‎ board.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːdbɔːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹdbɔɹd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dbɔː(ɹ)d

Noun

cardboard (countable and uncountable, plural cardboards)

1. A wood-based material resembling heavy paper, used in the manufacture of boxes, cartons and signs.

Usage notes

Despite widespread general use in English, the term cardboard is deprecated in commerce and industry as not adequately defining a specific product.

Derived terms

• cardboard box
• cardboard city
• cardboard cut-out, cardboard cutout
• cardboarded
• cardboarding
• cardboardy

 

Translations

material resembling heavy paper

• Albanian: karton (sq) m
• Arabic: كَرْتُون (ar) m (kartūn), وَرَق مُقَوَّى f (waraq muqawwā)
• Armenian: ստվարաթուղթ (hy) (stvaratʻuġtʻ), կարտոն (hy) (karton)
• Asturian: cartón m
• Azerbaijani: karton
• Bashkir: ҡатырға (qatırğa)
• Belarusian: карто́н m (kartón)
• Bengali: পিচবোর্ড (bn) (picobōrḍo)
• Bulgarian: карто́н (bg) m (kartón)
• Burmese: စက္ဏူထူ (caknuhtu)
• Catalan: cartró (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 紙皮／纸皮 (zi² pei⁴)

  Mandarin: 紙板／纸板 (zh) (zhǐbǎn), 硬紙板／硬纸板 (zh) (yìngzhǐbǎn)

• Czech: karton (cs) m
• Danish: pap (da) n, karton c
• Dutch: karton (nl) n
• Dzongkha: ཤོག་པང (shog pang)
• Esperanto: kartono
• Estonian: papp (et), kartong
• Faroese: papp n
• Finnish: pahvi (fi), kartonki (fi)
• French: carton (fr) m
• Galician: cartón m
• Georgian: კარტონი (ḳarṭoni), მუყაო (muq̇ao)
• German: Karton (de) m, Pappe (de) f
• Greek: χαρτόνι (el) (chartóni)
• Hebrew: קַרְטוֹן (he) m (kartón)
• Hindi: गत्ता (hi) m (gattā)
• Hungarian: karton (hu)
• Icelandic: pappi
• Ido: kartono (io)
• Indonesian: karton (id)
• Ingrian: papka
• Irish: cairtchlár (ga) m
• Italian: cartone (it) m
• Japanese: 段ボール (ja) (だんボール, danbōru), 厚紙 (ja) (あつがみ, atsugami), 板紙 (ja) (いたがみ, itagami)
• Kabuverdianu: papelon
• Kazakh: картон (karton)
• Khmer: ការតុង (kaatong)
• Korean: 판지(板紙) (ko) (panji)
• Kyrgyz: картон (karton)
• Lao: ກະດາດແຂງ (ka dāt khǣng)
• Latvian: kartons m
• Lithuanian: kartonas m
• Luxembourgish: Kartrong m
• Macedonian: картон m (karton)
• Malay: karton, kadbod
• Malayalam: കാർഡ്ബോർഡ് (kāṟḍbōṟḍŭ)
• Maori: pepamārō
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: картон (mn) (karton), хатуу цаас (xatuu caas), цаасан хавтас (caasan xavtas) (China)

  Mongolian: ᠺᠠᠷᠲ᠋ᠣᠨ (karton), ᠬᠠᠲᠠᠭᠤ
  ᠴᠠᠭᠠᠰᠤ (qataɣu čaɣasu), ᠴᠠᠭᠠᠰᠤᠨ
  ᠬᠠᠪᠲᠠᠰᠤ (čaɣasun qabtasu)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: papp (no) m

  Nynorsk: papp m

• Pashto: مقوا f (moqawā)
• Persian: مقوا (fa) (moqavvâ)
• Polish: karton (pl) m, tektura (pl) f
• Portuguese: papelão (pt) m
• Romanian: carton (ro) n, mucava (ro) f
• Russian: карто́н (ru) m (kartón)
• Scottish Gaelic: cairt-bhòrd m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ка̀рто̄н m

  Roman: kàrtōn (sh) m

• Slovak: karton m
• Slovene: lepenka f, karton m
• Spanish: cartón (es) m, cartulina (es) f, chapadur m (South America)
• Swedish: kartong (sv) c, papp (sv) c
• Tajik: картон (tg) (karton)
• Tatar: катырга (qatırga), картон (qarton)
• Thai: กระดาษแข็ง (th) (grà-dàat-kɛ̌ng)
• Tibetan: ཤོག་པང (shog pang)
• Turkish: karton (tr), mukavva (tr)
• Turkmen: karton
• Ukrainian: карто́н m (kartón)
• Urdu: گتا m (gattā)
• Uyghur: كارتون (karton)
• Uzbek: karton (uz)
• Vietnamese: các tông, bìa cứng, giấy bồi (vi)
• Welsh: cardbord m
• West Frisian: karton n
• Yiddish: קאַרטאָן m (karton)

See also

• paperboard

Adjective

cardboard

1. Made of or resembling cardboard; (figurative) flat or flavorless.
   • 1868, Arthur William A'Beckett, “Painted Ships and Painted Oceans”, in The Tomahawk, page 114:

     The worst of the thing, however, is that the enormity, such as it is, happens to be of a very cardboard and tinsel character.

   • 1973, Journal of Black Poetry, number 17, page 27:

     The thing really looked quite cardboard.

   • 2008, Katya Hokanson, Writing at Russia's Border‎^[1], page 122:

     While Lensky’s character is quite cardboard, Onegin’s manipulations and lack of ability to call off the duel because he fears society’s jibes, Lensky’s youth and naivety, and Tatiana’s reaction to the duel lend the event its gravity.

   • Twentieth-Century Scottish Drama, page 501:

     MUMMER 3 pulls out an inflated cushion with a very cardboard crown on it.