chunk

View more Health videos

noun

An irregularly shaped mass of indefinite size: clod, clump, gob, hunch, lump, nugget, wad. Informal hunk. See part/whole.

The Scottish philosopher Sir William Hamilton (1788–1856), born in Glasgow (where his father and grandfather held the chairs of anatomy and botany), wrote: 'If you throw a handful of marbles on the floor, you will find it difficult to view at once more than six, or seven at most, without confusion.' This was confirmed by the English economist William Stanley Jevons (1835–82), by throwing beans into a box and estimating their number. He found that he never made a mistake with three or four, was sometimes wrong when there were five, was right about half the time with ten beans, and was usually wrong with fifteen. These experiments are cited by the American psychologist George Miller (1956), the author of the famous paper 'The magic number seven, plus or minus two' (1956). Miller found that more items can be remembered when they are coded, or 'chunked'. Thus, we can remember more numbers or letters when they are in recognized sequences or words. So chunking enormously increases effective memory and perception. One might think of perception of objects as 'chunking' the sensory and stored data into large units — which are objects as perceived.

(Published 1987)

— Richard L. Gregory

Bibliography
• Miller, G. (1956a). 'Information theory'. Scientific American, August.
• — —  (1956b). 'The magic number seven, plus or minus two'. Psychological Review, 63/2

---

For a list of words related to chunk, see:

• General Technology - chunk: conceptual unit of data or information
• Descriptions of Sounds

---

See words rhyming with "chunk."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Chunk.

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - luns, velvoksen person, lille prop, lille kraftig hest, brand
v. tr. - kaste noget efter, kaste

idioms:

• chunk of wood    træstykke

2.
v. intr. - lave en mørk metallisk lyd

Nederlands (Dutch)
homp, behoorlijke hoeveelheid, kort gedrongen (persoon/ paard)

Français (French)
1.
n. - morceau, quignon, tronçon, partie (de la population)
v. tr. - tronçonner (du bois)

idioms:

• chunk of wood    tronçon de bois

2.
v. intr. - produire un son métallique

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Klumpen, Klotz
v. - in Stücken schneiden

idioms:

• chunk of wood    Holzklotz

2.
v. - ein metallisches Geräusch machen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κομματάρα, μεγάλο κομμάτι, (μτφ.) μεγάλη ποσότητα, σωρεία

idioms:

• chunk of wood    κούτσουρο

Italiano (Italian)
pezzo

idioms:

• chunk of wood    ceppo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - naco (m), pessoa (f) ou animal (m) atarracado

idioms:

• chunk of wood    tora (f) de madeira

Русский (Russian)
толстый кусок, ломоть

idioms:

• chunk of wood    бревно

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - pedazo, trozo
v. tr. - cortar en pedazos, trocear

idioms:

• chunk of wood    tarugo

2.
v. intr. - hacer un ruido metálico

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tjockt, stort stycke, satt och kraftig person, liten häst

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
大块, 矮胖的人或物, 使发卡嚓声, 发卡嚓声

idioms:

• chunk of wood    厚木头块

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 大塊, 矮胖的人或物
v. tr. - 使發卡嚓聲
v. intr. - 發卡嚓聲

idioms:

• chunk of wood    厚木頭塊

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 큰 나무 토막, 땅딸막하고 튼튼한 사람, 상당한 양
v. tr. - 던지다, 모닥불 등을 지피다

2.
v. intr. - 덜커덩 소리를 내다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 大きい塊, かなりの量, 塊

idioms:

• chunk of wood    木片

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قطعه كبيرة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נתח, חתיכה עבה ומוצקה, גוש‬
v. tr. - ‮חתך לנתחים‬
v. intr. - ‮השמיע צליל מתכתי אטום‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.