chunk
n. countablen. a large or thick piece of something. You can also use it to describe a big part of something else, like a large amount of time or money.
n. a thick, solid piece of something; by extension, a significant portion or segment of a larger whole. Often used in cognitive science and linguistics to describe a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit.
I cut a large chunk of cheese for the sandwich.
The project took a significant chunk of my time over the weekend, but I finally finished it.
By breaking the complex lecture into manageable chunks, the professor ensured that the students could process and retain the dense information without experiencing cognitive overload.
Variant of chuck; or alternatively a diminutive of chump (“chunk; block”) + *-k (diminutive suffix) (compare hunk from hump, etc.). Also compare Dutch schonk.
Commonly paired with the preposition 'of' to quantify both physical objects and abstract concepts like time or data.