shard
Americannoun
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shards
plural
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a fragment, especially of broken earthenware.
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Zoology.
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a scale.
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a shell, as of an egg or snail.
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Entomology. an elytron of a beetle.
noun
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a broken piece or fragment of a brittle substance, esp of pottery
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zoology a tough sheath, scale, or shell, esp the elytra of a beetle
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of shard
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceard; cognate with Low German, Dutch schaard; akin to shear
Explanation
If you break a mirror, the thin sharp pieces you want to avoid are shards. A shard is simply a broken piece of metal, glass, stone, or pottery with sharp edges. Don't confuse shard with shred, meaning to cut into strips, or chard, a leafy green vegetable. You could use a shard of metal to shred chard into salad, but be careful that you don't cut your hands to shreds!
Vocabulary lists containing shard
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
An autopsy report on an Arizona man who died in a crash noted a large shard in his neck that had a DTN serial number inscribed on it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
She seemed to hold no mistrust toward me and my halting Spanish, no shard of suspicion that I could use to create the usual distance around myself.
From Slate ● Jan. 15, 2026
It mattered because it took place when women were beginning to shatter old stereotypes, and she wanted to obliterate every shard of that glass ceiling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2023
Occasionally, something would cast a shard of light on Letby's life.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2023
He placed the pouch containing his wand, his mother’s letter, the shard of Sirius’s mirror, and the old Snitch on top of his clothes, then he pointed Hermione’s wand at the ice.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Johnson is prized for his “Broken Men” grids of anxious-seeming, masklike figures composed of shards of ceramic tile, mirror, shells and wood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Police were shooing everyone away from the high-rises as shards of glass were still falling out of broken windows.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Researchers carefully sift through dirt samples and use specialized tools called micromanipulators to isolate the tiny shards.
From Science Daily ● May 11, 2026
What you’re left with are little shards of savory excess, perfect for scattering over grain bowls, steaming congee, salads, pastas, anything that could use a jolt of salt, fat, and crunch.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
More shards crashed down, the echoes rumbling on and on.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
