Main Entry:

shard

Pronunciation:

\ˈshärd\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Old English sceard; akin to Old English scieran to cut — more at shear

Date:

before 12th century

1 a: a piece or fragment of a brittle substance <shards of glass> ; broadly : a small piece or part : scrap <little shards of time and space recorded by the camera's lens — Rosalind Krauss> b: shell, scale ; especially : elytron2or sherd \ˈshərd\ : fragments of pottery vessels found on sites and in refuse deposits where pottery-making peoples have lived3: highly angular curved glass fragments of tuffaceous sediments