Padding is soft material added to protect what is inside. Foam in a parcel, wadding in a jacket, upholstery in a chair.
It is a mass noun. The word has a strong figurative use about writing, since padding is material added to make something longer rather than better, and an essay full of padding is one that says very little at length. That use is always a criticism. The verb pad covers both, and padding out a report means the same thing. Shoulder pads are the fashion version.
1nounpaddingSoft material used for protection or comfort.
“There was no padding in the box at all.”
2noununnecessaryUnnecessary material added to make something longer.
“The middle chapter is pure padding.”
Proto-Indo-European
*pent- — to pass
vls
pad — sole of the foot
English
pad
English, today
padding
From pad + -ing. pad 1554, "bundle of straw to lie on". unknown, and unclear all senses have common etymology. For sense "ends of a digit", cf. Low German - or vls pad (“sole of the foot”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pent- (“to pass”), which would make it related to both path and find.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA