index card

American  

noun

index cards plural

1. a card, often relatively small, as 3 × 5 inches (7.6 × 12.7 centimeters), used in noting or recording information and usually filed in an index.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• index cards
  plural

Etymology

Origin of index card

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

When the NFL draft begins on Thursday night, Commissioner Roger Goodell will hardly need to glance at an index card to know that the Raiders intended to use the first overall pick on Mendoza.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

Sitting among dozens of football players in the Rams locker room at SoFi Stadium, the quarterback explained why he had ripped an index card with the word “Black” on it.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 20, 2023

Photographers snapped the president holding up the outward-facing index card during a brief press availability in the Roosevelt Room to kick off the meeting.

From Washington Times • Jun. 24, 2022

I could have typed up my mom's index card and called it a Big Little Recipe and done.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2022

My hands, the index card, my expired passport, dissolved into ripples.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin