stub

A stub is most often the small piece left after the main part has been used, torn off, or cut away. Think of the part of a ticket you keep after entering a cinema, the short end of a pencil that has been used almost completely, or a pay stub that shows what you earned and what was taken out.

The word often suggests something small and incomplete, but still useful. As a verb, stub is most common in the phrase stub your toe, which means to hit your toe hard against something. You can also stub out a cigarette by pressing the burning end against a surface to put it out. In some contexts, a stub can also mean a short unfinished piece of writing or code.

The word "stub" usually refers to something short that remains after a larger whole has been used, removed, or cut off. In everyday life, this is easy to see in physical objects. When you enter a concert, a theater, or a train, part of the ticket may be torn away, leaving you with the ticket stub as proof of entry or purchase. A pencil stub is the tiny piece left after the pencil has been used so much that it is hard to hold.

In finance and office use, a check stub or pay stub is the part kept as a record. It gives details such as payment, deductions, or account information. Here, the idea is still the same: it is a small part that remains and helps you keep track of something important.

The word also works as a verb. To stub your toe means to strike it painfully against a hard object, usually by accident. In the phrase stub out, it means to put out a cigarette or cigar by crushing the burning end against a surface.

By extension, stub can also describe something short and unfinished, such as a stub article, a stub entry, or a stub in a computer program that stands in for something larger that will be added later. The word comes from Old English stubb, meaning tree stump, which helps explain the basic image behind it: something short, cut off, and still remaining. Whether you are holding a ticket stub, reading a pay stub, or nursing a stubbed toe, the word keeps the same core sense of a small, blunt remainder or a sharp contact with one.