noun · verb · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈʃɑːd/
Received-Pronunciation:[ˈʃɑːd]
Australian, New-Zealand:/ˈʃɐːd/
Australian, New-Zealand:[ˈʃɐ̞ːd]
Canada, US:/ˈʃɑɹd/
Canada, US:[ˈʃɑɹd]
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Scotland:/ˈʃaɾd/
rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)d
CMU ARPABET:SH AA1 R D
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: potsherd
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A piece of material, especially rock and similar materials, reminding of a broken piece of glass or pottery.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Examples
2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text Inside its exhibit hall, behind panes of glass, in a white-lit lab, a team of restorers works on an ancient Byzantine floor: 44 square yards of stone shards rescued from Lot’s Cave Monastery.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: splinter
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A tough scale, sheath, or shell; especially an elytron of a beetle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
An instance of an MMORPG that is one of several independent and structurally identical virtual worlds, none of which has so many players as to exhaust a system's resources.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Internet
Topics: games, gaming
Examples
1997, Ultima Online. The term "shard" is related to the backstory of the game, in which the Gem of Immortality is shattered by the Stranger, the protagonist of Ultima I. "The planet was still bound to the jewel's magic, even as it lay shattered upon the floor of Mondain's castle. For, within each shattered remnant of the jewel, dwelled a perfect likeness of Sosaria. Thus is the world in which you are born, live, and die. Brittania, that was once Sosaria, now exists as a thousand worlds, each with its own peoples, history and destiny. This Brittania is but one of many in the multiverse that is... ...ULTIMA ONLINE." - Intro cinematic to the game, written by Michael Morlan https://web.archive.org/web/20080706122926/http://michael-morlan.net/pages/production/prod_uo.htm
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
A component of a sharded distributed database.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: partition
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
A piece of crystal methamphetamine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: in-plural, singular, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
The plant chard.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
verb
Meaning 8
To fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
verb
Meaning 9
To break (something) into shards.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
10
verb
Meaning 10
To divide (an MMORPG) into several shards, or to establish a shard of one.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Internet, transitive
Topics: games, gaming
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
11
noun
Meaning 11
a broken piece of a brittle artifact
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sherd, fragment
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: piece
Narrower terms: potsherd
History
Etymology
From Middle English shard, scherd, scheard, schord, from Old English sċeard (“a broken piece; shard”), from Proto-West Germanic *skard, from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“notch; nick”), from *skardaz (“damaged; nicked; scarred”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Akin to Scots schaird (“shard”), French écharde (“splinter”), Dutch schaarde (“tear; notch; fragment”), German Scharte (“notch”), Old Norse skarð (“notch, hack”) ( > Danish skår). The database sense is perhaps derived from the online gaming sense or from SHARD (System for Highly Available Replicated Data), name of a 1980s database product.
Across languages
Translations
81 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
skerf
— piece of glass or pottery
Arabic:
كِسْرَة
(kisra)
— piece of glass or pottery
Bulgarian:
чиреп
(čirep)
— piece of glass or pottery
Catalan:
padellàs
— piece of glass or pottery
Czech:
střep
— piece of glass or pottery
Danish:
skår
— piece of glass or pottery
Dutch:
scherf
— piece of glass or pottery
Finnish:
siru
— piece of glass or pottery
Finnish:
sirpale
— piece of glass or pottery
Finnish:
pirstale
— piece of glass or pottery
French:
éclat
— piece of glass or pottery
French:
tesson
— piece of glass or pottery
Galician:
lasca
— piece of glass or pottery
Galician:
cacheno
— piece of glass or pottery
German:
Scherbe
— piece of glass or pottery
Ancient Greek:
ὄστρακον
(óstrakon)
— piece of glass or pottery
Hebrew:
רְסִיס
(r'sis)
— piece of glass or pottery
Hungarian:
cserépdarab
— piece of glass or pottery
Hungarian:
szilánk
— piece of glass or pottery
Ingrian:
luhka
— piece of glass or pottery
Italian:
frammento
— piece of glass or pottery
Italian:
coccio
— piece of glass or pottery
Kapampangan:
catapa
— piece of glass or pottery
Kapampangan:
katapa
— piece of glass or pottery
Latin:
testa
— piece of glass or pottery
Macedonian:
откршок
(otkršok)
— piece of glass or pottery
Macedonian:
срча
(srča)
— piece of glass or pottery
Macedonian:
цреп
(crep)
— piece of glass or pottery
Māori:
pāra
— piece of glass or pottery
Māori:
kuru
— piece of glass or pottery
Māori:
rutunga
— piece of glass or pottery
Norwegian Bokmål:
skår
— piece of glass or pottery
Norwegian Nynorsk:
skar
— piece of glass or pottery
Persian:
شکاله
(šekâle)
— piece of glass or pottery
Persian:
سفاله
(sefâle)
— piece of glass or pottery
Polish:
skorupa
— piece of glass or pottery
Polish:
odłamek
— piece of glass or pottery
Portuguese:
caco
— piece of glass or pottery
Portuguese:
estilhaço
— piece of glass or pottery
Romanian:
ciob
— piece of glass or pottery
Russian:
оско́лок
(oskólok)
— piece of glass or pottery
Russian:
черепо́к
(čerepók)
— piece of glass or pottery
Serbo-Croatian:
krhotina
— piece of glass or pottery
Slovak:
črep
— piece of glass or pottery
Slovene:
črepinja
— piece of glass or pottery
Lower Sorbian:
crjop
— piece of glass or pottery
Spanish:
casco
— piece of glass or pottery
Spanish:
añicos
— piece of glass or pottery
Spanish:
esquirla
— piece of glass or pottery
Spanish:
tiesto
— piece of glass or pottery
Swedish:
skärva
— piece of glass or pottery
Tagalog:
bubog
— piece of glass or pottery
Tocharian B:
ṣat
— piece of glass or pottery
Ukrainian:
оско́лок
(oskólok)
— piece of glass or pottery
Walloon:
testea
— piece of glass or pottery
Walloon:
xhervea
— piece of glass or pottery
Finnish:
siru
— piece of rock or similar
Finnish:
sirpale
— piece of rock or similar
Finnish:
pirstale
— piece of rock or similar
Spanish:
tasquil
— piece of rock or similar
Tocharian B:
ṣat
— piece of rock or similar
Bulgarian:
елитра
(elitra)
— tough scale
Finnish:
kilpi
— tough scale
Finnish:
kuori
— tough scale
Finnish:
peitinsiipi (elytron)
— tough scale
Russian:
па́нцирь
(páncirʹ)
— tough scale
Finnish:
sirpaloitua
— to fall apart
Finnish:
pirstoutua
— to fall apart
French:
éclater
— to fall apart
Italian:
frammentare
— to fall apart
Romanian:
sparge
— to fall apart
Romanian:
ciobi
— to fall apart
Russian:
разбива́ться
(razbivátʹsja)
— to fall apart
