shard
Americannoun
-
shards
plural
-
a fragment, especially of broken earthenware.
-
Zoology.
-
a scale.
-
a shell, as of an egg or snail.
-
-
Entomology. an elytron of a beetle.
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
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
Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Speak
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Westing Game
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
They would place their little shard of pottery—the ostracon—inscribed with their villain’s name, on a table and the unfortunate candidate would be ejected if the votes added up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 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
From his pocket, Serhiy Melnyk pulls out a small rusty shard, wrapped neatly in paper.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025
And he didn’t immediately know that a shard had broken free until he returned to the huddle Saturday night and teammates began pointing it out to him.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
He even took off the crude wrapping of clay and peered at the edges of the shard.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
Shopkeepers were out early with brooms, picking up large shards of glass as they began the clean-up.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
According to a video shared Monday on Threads, a Parton fan who planned to lay flowers at the star found that it was marred by what seemed to be shards from a broken candle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Next to the damaged station, dozens of onlookers stared at the flames roaring from the vehicle amid shards of glass and rubble, AFP journalists observed.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
In the aboveground labs, they used artificial intelligence and digital technologies to reassemble the millions of shards into recognizable forms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
A few steps from the water lay shards of a purple sand shovel.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
