Word for 'items not in a set'

Question

Is there a word for 'items not in a set'?

Here is the desired usage: when I organize things into boxes by source (could be brand, author, sender... any logical way to group items) I have a box for source X, a box for source Y, etc. I can use X, Y as the labels for the boxes. Now all the rest goes into a box, what should I label it with?

In my mother tongue there is a word for that, literally 'scattered' in English. I don't believe 'scattered' is the right word here.

In English, the closest word I could think of is 'miscellaneous', which may work for the label of the box, but the meaning isn't the same as what I want. Other options include 'ungrouped' and 'uncategorized', which aren't exactly true because the items in that box are indeed categorized. They are categorized as 'not in a collection'.

What is the right word?

Answer 1

If you want a single word, you could consider uncategorized. One dictionary defines it as:

uncategorized (adj.) not having been sorted into a category

Or, if you don't mind a short phrase, you could try odds and ends. This phrase gets its own entry in several dictionaries – one of them defines it as:

odds and ends (n. pl.) that which is left; remnants; fragments; refuse; scraps; miscellaneous articles.

If you don't like odds and ends, that definition has an assortment of other candidates you could use, such as remnants.

I'll suggest one more word: other. That can work as a category name, and has even been used in some applications.

_{Examples of usages of an "other" category can be found here, here and here.}