ammunition consisting of a cylindrical casing containing an explosive charge and a bullet; fired from a rifle or handgun
"The hunter carefully loaded each cartridge into his rifle before stepping out to the treeline."
a module designed to be inserted into a larger piece of equipment
"he loaded a cartridge of fresh tape into the tape deck"
The package consisting of the bullet, primer, and casing containing gunpowder; a round of ammunition.
"He carefully checked each cartridge in his belt before stepping out into the clearing to hunt."
In plain English: A cartridge is a small container that holds ink, toner, or ammunition and gets inserted into a machine to make it work.
"He replaced the old ink cartridge in his printer with a new one to fix the streaks on the page."
Usage: A cartridge is a self-contained unit of ammunition that includes a projectile, propellant, and primer, designed to be loaded into a firearm or other device for firing. While often associated with guns, the term also refers to ink containers in printers or small packets of medication, but its core meaning always involves a sealed package ready for use.
A surname.
"At the family reunion, Mr. Cartridge introduced his children to everyone."
The word cartridge is a corruption of the older term cartage, which comes from the French cartouche. This ultimately traces back to the Italian cartoccio, meaning "roll of paper," and derives its root from Medieval Latin carta for paper.