microfiche

American  

[mahy-kruh-feesh] / ˈmaɪ krəˌfiʃ /

noun

plural

microfiche, microfiches

1. a flat sheet of microfilm in a form suitable for filing, typically measuring 4 by 6 inches (10 by 15 centimeters) and containing microreproductions, as of printed or graphic matter, in a grid pattern.

---

verb (used with object)

microfiched, microfiching

1. to enter or record on a microfiche.

   The correspondence was microfiched for easy storage.

microfiche British  

/ ˈmaɪkrəʊˌfiːʃ /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: fiche.  a sheet of film, usually the size of a filing card, on which books, newspapers, documents, etc, can be recorded in miniaturized form See also ultrafiche

---

Etymology

Origin of microfiche

First recorded in 1945–50; micro- + French fiche “small card”

Explanation

Microfiche is a type of film that's used to store information. If you're doing research in very old newspapers, your library might have them available on microfiche. Microfiche is basically tiny photographs of old, fragile materials like journals, magazines, and newspapers. Before information began to be saved electronically on computers, microfiche was one way to save space in archives and libraries — instead of shelves full of journals, they could store drawers of thin photographic film containing an enormous amount of information. To view microfiche, you need a special magnifying device. Microfiche comes from French roots meaning "small slip of paper."

Example Sentences

Detectives went hunting for the Help Wanted ad, hunkered over the microfiche machine at the newspaper’s downtown office.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2025

Decades of police records stored as microfiche were transcribed into three, hefty logbooks for detectives to painstakingly examine.

From BBC • Sep. 29, 2022

Yet although she conducts ample historical research, combing through census records and newspaper microfiche, she isn’t comfortable conjuring the setting and conditions of Hudgins’s life.

From Washington Post • Sep. 9, 2022

I eventually found an Orthodox Jewish ophthalmologist who shared his idea for a thriller where the microfiche was hidden in the Hasidic spy's eye.

From Salon • Jun. 18, 2022

After lunch, Jack and I went to the microfiche room to look up press on John Kwang.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Related Words

• image
• model
• photocopy
• photograph
• portrait
• print
• replica
• reproduction
• transcript
• type