Meanings
plural padlocks
- A detachable lock that can be used to secure something by means of a sliding or hinged shackle
open a padlock
4 more examples
He secured the gate with a heavy padlock.
The padlock was too rusty to open.
combination padlock
heavy-duty padlock
present singular third person padlocks · participle present padlocking · participle past padlocked · past padlocked
- transitiveTo lock using a padlock.
padlock the door
5 more examples
Janitors padlock the gates.
1989, Del Amitri, “Nothing Ever Happens” (song)They padlocked the gates to prevent anyone from entering.
The storage room was padlocked overnight.
padlock the gate
securely padlocked
Origin
- Middle Englishpadlock
- Englishpadlock
From earlier pad lock (19th c.); Middle English padlock, padlokke, from pad-, of unknown origin, + lok (“lock”). Perhaps originally a lock for a pad (“gate”), or a gate opening to a path, or a lock for a basket or pannier, from UK dialect pad (“a pannier”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic كَيْلُون, كَالُون
- كَيْلُون (kaylūn)type of lock
- كَالُون (kālūn)type of lock
Basque giltzarrapo
- giltzarrapotype of lock
Bulgarian катина́р
- катина́р (katinár)type of lock
Catalan cadenat
- cadenattype of lock
Chinese Mandarin 掛鎖 /挂锁, 用掛鎖鎖上 /用挂锁锁上
- 掛鎖 /挂锁 (guàsuǒ)type of lock
- 用掛鎖鎖上 /用挂锁锁上 (yòng guàsuǒ suǒshàng)to lock using a padlock
Czech visací zámek
- visací zámektype of lock
Danish hængelås
- hængelåstype of lock
Dutch hangslot, met een hangslot afsluiten
- hangslottype of lock
- met een hangslot afsluitento lock using a padlock
Esperanto pendseruro
- pendserurotype of lock
Finnish riippulukko, munalukko
- riippulukkotype of lock
- munalukkotype of lock
- sulkea riippulukollato lock using a padlock
French cadenas, cadenasser
- cadenastype of lock
- cadenasserto lock using a padlock
German Vorhängeschloss, mit einem Vorhängeschloss verschließen
- Vorhängeschlosstype of lock
- mit einem Vorhängeschloss verschließento lock using a padlock
Greek λουκέτο
- λουκέτο (loukéto)type of lock
Hindi ताला
- ताला (tālā)type of lock
Hungarian lakat, lakatol
- lakattype of lock
- lakatolto lock using a padlock
- lelakatolto lock using a padlock
- bezárto lock using a padlock
- lezárto lock using a padlock
Indonesian gembok
- gemboktype of lock
Irish glas fraincín, glas crochta
- glas fraincíntype of lock
- glas crochtatype of lock
Italian lucchetto, lucchetto
- lucchettotype of lock
- lucchettoto lock using a padlock
Japanese パドロック, パッドロック
- パドロック (padorokku)type of lock
- パッドロック (paddorokku)type of lock
- 蝦錠 (ebijō)type of lock
Korean 자물쇠
- 자물쇠 (jamulsoe)type of lock
Lithuanian spynà
- spynàtype of lock
Malay mangga, ibu kunci
- manggatype of lock
- ibu kuncitype of lock
Norwegian Bokmål hengelås
- hengelåstype of lock
Polish kłódka, zamykać na kłódkę
- kłódkatype of lock
- zamykać na kłódkęto lock using a padlock
- zamknąć na kłódkęto lock using a padlock
Portuguese cadeado, aloquete
- cadeadotype of lock
- aloquetetype of lock
- cadearto lock using a padlock
- trancarto lock using a padlock
Punjabi ਕੁੰਡੀ, کُنْڈی
- ਕੁੰਡੀ (kuṇḍī)type of lock
- کُنْڈی (kunḍī)type of lock
Romanian lacăt
- lacăttype of lock
Russian вися́чий замо́к, замо́к
- вися́чий замо́к (visjáčij zamók)type of lock
- замо́к (zamók)type of lock
Spanish candado, candar
- candadotype of lock
- candarto lock using a padlock
- asegurarto lock using a padlock
Swahili kufuli
- kufulitype of lock
Swedish hänglås
- hänglåstype of lock
Thai แม่กุญแจ
- แม่กุญแจ (mɛ̂ɛ-gun-jɛɛ)type of lock
Turkish asma kilit, kilitlemek
- asma kilittype of lock
- kilitlemekto lock using a padlock
Urdu تالا
- تالا (tālā)type of lock
Welsh clo clap, clo clwt
- clo claptype of lock
- clo clwttype of lock
Cite this entry
padlock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/padlock
“padlock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/padlock. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “padlock,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/padlock.
Source: padlock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.