shard
Americannoun
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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's a rim shard, an ice-cream shaped cone vessel - very fine material, very fine glass… it's a really nice find," Andy Seaman says as he admires the fragment.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2024
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
He bent and picked up the shard from the table.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
There are many risks that come with skip diving, as skips often contain broken glass, metal shards or biohazardous waste.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
Researchers carefully sift through dirt samples and use specialized tools called micromanipulators to isolate the tiny shards.
From Science Daily ● May 11, 2026
Lately, though, it’s been something else: crisp, golden shards of chicken skin.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
AFP journalists saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from God.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
Jason flipped over a table, and hundreds of bottles tumbled to the ground, shattering into shards and spilling a fiery elixir.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
