塞進實體的空隙
核心畫面本身，還沒有比喻：真的有一個空間，真的塞了軟東西。
noun · B1
Soft material put inside or around something to fill it, make it thicker, or protect what is inside.
填充物；襯墊
核心畫面
Picture a box that is too big for what is inside it. The thing rattles, and the empty space is the problem. So you push soft material into every gap until nothing can move. Two things are true about that material: it goes where there is nothing, and it is not the thing you actually care about. Whenever you meet padding, look for a space that had to be filled — a box, a page, a line of data — and for the low-value stuff pushed in to fill it.
可以想成一個箱子對裡面的東西來說太大了。東西會晃，問題出在那些空的地方。於是你把軟的材料塞進每一個空隙，塞到它動不了…更多收起
可以想成一個箱子對裡面的東西來說太大了。東西會晃，問題出在那些空的地方。於是你把軟的材料塞進每一個空隙，塞到它動不了為止。這些材料有兩個特點：它去的是「本來沒東西」的地方，而且它不是你真正在乎的那個東西。看到 padding 時，就去找那個必須被填滿的空間——一個箱子、一頁文章、一行資料——再找被塞進去的那些次要的東西。From the word’s history
Recorded in the source as pad + -ing, literally the filling of something with padding.
來源資料把這個字記成 pad（墊子）加上 -ing，可以想成字面上是「拿墊子去填」這件事。所以它一直是材料的總稱，不是某一塊墊子。
Wiktionary etymology_text in packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:966452016): From pad + -ing.
Three branches
塞進文章的空隙
要填的空間換成了長度：字數不夠、時間不夠。
noun · B2
Extra words or details added to a piece of writing or a speech only to make it longer, which add nothing useful. Using the word shows that you think they should not be there.
灌水的內容
塞進資料的空位
空間換成了規定好的長度，塞進去的東西換成了字元。
noun · C1
In computing and in secret messages, extra characters added to a piece of data or a message, either to bring it to a fixed length or to hide how long it really is.
填充字元；補位
原始詞典資料8 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
paddingnoun詞源 2/ˈpædɪŋ/
- 1
Soft filling material used in cushions etc.
- 2
computingengineeringmathematicsExtra characters such as spaces added to a record to fill it out to a fixed length.
- 3
computingcryptographyengineeringExtraneous text added to a message for the purpose of concealing its beginning, ending, or length.
- 4
Anything of little value used to fill up space.
- That magazine is mostly advertisements; the rest is padding.
- But to my intense surprise, on getting down early the next morning, and eagerly opening the newspapers, there was not a word about the arrest! There was a column of mere padding about “The Styles Poisoning Case,” but nothing further. It was rather inexplicable, but I supposed that, for some reason or other, Japp wished to keep it out of the papers.
- 5
The process of mordanting a fabric.
- 6
A diaper.
- 7
obsoleteRobbing on a highway.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。