shard
[ shahrd ]
/ ʃɑrd /
noun
a fragment, especially of broken earthenware.
Zoology.
- a scale.
- a shell, as of an egg or snail.
Entomology. an elytron of a beetle.
RELATED WORDS
fragment, remnant, particle, residue, lees, scrap, share, stub, portion, butt, dregs, bit, piece, remainder, side, leaving, ort
Nearby words
- shapley, harlow,
- shar pei,
- shar-pei,
- shara,
- sharaku,
- shardana,
- share,
- share account,
- share and share alike,
- share certificate
Also sherd.
Origin of shard
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceard; cognate with Low German, Dutch schaard; akin to shear
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for shard
shard
sherd
/ (ʃɑːd) /
noun
a broken piece or fragment of a brittle substance, esp of pottery
zoology a tough sheath, scale, or shell, esp the elytra of a beetle
Word Origin for shard
Old English sceard; related to Old Norse skarth notch, Middle High German scharte notch
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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shard
also sherd, Old English sceard "incision, cleft, gap; potshard, a fragment, broken piece," from Proto-Germanic *skardas (cf. Middle Dutch schaerde "a fragment, a crack," Dutch schaard "a flaw, a fragment," German Scharte "a notch," Danish skaar "chink, potsherd"), a past participle from the root of Old English sceran "to cut" (see shear). Meaning "fragment of broken earthenware" developed in late Old English. Used late 14c. as "scale of a dragon." French écharde "prickle, splinter" is a Germanic loan-word.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper