cardboard

B2 Topic:Materials & Substances

Also spelled card-board

US /ˈkɑɹdˌbɔɹd/ UK /ˈkɑːdbɔːd/ See IPA manual

Freq #11458

Meanings

1

noun
A thick, stiff material like heavy paper, used to make boxes.

We packed the books into strong cardboard boxes.
2

adj
Made of cardboard, or seeming flat and lifeless.

The film's hero felt like a cardboard character with no real personality.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a thick, stiff material... composition board

2 adj · made of cardboard, or... unlifelike

Word family

Forms cardboards

Derived forms cardboardedcardboardingcardboardy

Related forms paperboard

Etymology

From card + board.

Topics

Materials & Substances

External links

# cardboard

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈkɑɹdˌbɔɹd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkɑːdbɔːd/
**Frequency rank:** 11458

## Meanings
1. A thick, stiff material like heavy paper, used to make boxes.
2. Made of cardboard, or seeming flat and lifeless.

## Examples
- We packed the books into strong cardboard boxes.
- The film's hero felt like a cardboard character with no real personality.

## Derived Forms
- cardboarded
- cardboarding
- cardboardy

## Related Forms
- paperboard

## Etymology
From card + board.

## AI Etymology
Cardboard is from card plus board. The formation is semantically transparent: the parts remain visible, while the compound or affix fixes the grammatical role and narrows the modern meaning. In use as a noun and an adjective, cardboard denotes a thick, stiff material like heavy paper, used to make boxes and made of cardboard, or seeming flat and lifeless. The same word family continues in derived forms such as cardboarded, cardboarding, and cardboardy and related entries such as paperboard.

## Topics
- Materials & Substances

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