A portable lock with a U-shaped metal bar that you can use to secure something like a gate, chain, or locker.
From 'pad' (a traveling bag or bundle) and 'lock.' Padlocks were originally attached to traveling bags and packs, and the name stuck even as their use expanded to other items.
Padlocks have been around since medieval times, and the 'pad' part comes from old traveling bags called 'pads'—so the lock is literally named after where people first attached them, to secure their luggage on journeys!
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