shard

noun

ˈshärd 

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 : elytron

2

or sherd

ˈshərd 

: a fragment of a pottery vessel found on sites and in refuse deposits where pottery-making peoples have lived

3

: highly angular curved glass fragments of tuffaceous sediments

Did you know?

Shard dates back to Old English (where it was spelled sceard) and is related to Old English scieran, meaning "to cut." English speakers have adopted the modernized shard spelling for most uses, but archaeologists prefer to spell the word sherd when referring to the ancient fragments of pottery (sometimes referred to specifically as potsherds) they unearth. While shard initially referred to exactly such items, today the word is also used more broadly to encompass slivers of intangible concepts. A baseless accusation may be made "without a shard of evidence," and fans of the losing team may "cling to a shard of hope" until the final score. The utility of shard is its, ahem, point.

Examples of shard in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Smoke continued to rise from the twisted shards of metal, while the remains of the World Trade Center smoldered in a massive pile. — Sophia Leone, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026

Once the drop trap — a simple wire cage triggered by yanking on a cord — is set up with an enticing mix of sardines and shards of roast chicken on a cardboard tray inside, everyone moves out of sight behind massive logs a few yards away. — Adam Tschorn, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Scientists literally had to pick up the pieces after the wafers containing the solar wind samples shattered into thousands of tiny shards. — Tariq Malik, Space.com, 8 Sep. 2026

Every piece — the pleated wrap top, the shorts adorned with trailing shards of silk chiffon — was hand-dyed or painted and then covered in Swarovski crystals. — Bianca Betancourt, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for shard

• bard
• barred
• card
• chard
• charred
• guard
• hard
• jarred
• lard
• marred
• nard
• scarred

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Kids Definition

shard

noun

ˈshärd 

: a piece or fragment of something brittle (as pottery)