ostracon

noun

os·​tra·​con ˈä-strə-ˌkän 

plural ostraca ˈä-strə-kə 

: a fragment (as of pottery) containing an inscription

—usually plural

Examples of ostracon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The mention of her name is one of the few instances where a woman’s name appears on an ostracon. — Megan Gannon, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Oct. 2020

That’s because for nearly 50 years archaeologists thought the back of the ostracon was blank, when really the ink was invisible. — Nicholas St. Fleur, New York Times, 16 June 2017

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Greek óstrakon "earthen pot, potsherd, hard shell of a mollusk or tortoise," of uncertain origin

Note: Greek óstrakon, as well as óstreion, óstreon "bivalve mollusk, oyster" (see oyster), have traditionally been taken as derivatives from Indo-European *h₃esth₁-r-, supposedly a heteroclitic stem with an -n- counterpart in Sanskrit ásthi, genitive asthnáḥ "bone," from a base *h₃esth₁- (or *h₂osth₁-), reflected more directly in Greek ostéon "bone" (see osteo-, osseous). The word óstrakon could be a derivative with a suffix *-n̥-k-, seen also without -r- in ostakón "lobster, crayfish" (see astaxanthin). These suppositions have been challenged by R. Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010), who rejects the existence of both the heteroclitic base and a supposed suffix *-n̥-k-, and takes the entire set of words as of substratal origin, with -ak- and -ei- (from *-ay-) as pre-Greek suffixes.

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined above