sherd

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

sherd
    n 1: a broken piece of a brittle artifact [syn: {shard},
         {sherd}, {fragment}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Sherd \Sherd\, n.
   A fragment; -- now used only in composition, as in potsherd.
   See {Shard}.
   [1913 Webster]

         The thigh . . . which all in sherds it drove.
                                                  --Chapman.
   [1913 Webster] Shereef

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Shard \Shard\ (sh[aum]rd), n. [AS. sceard, properly a p. p. from
   the root of scearn to shear, to cut; akin to D. schaard a
   fragment, G. scharte a notch, Icel. skar[eth]. See {Shear},
   and cf. {Sherd}.] [Written also {sheard}, and {sherd}.]
   1. A piece or fragment of an earthen vessel, or a like
      brittle substance, as the shell of an egg or snail.
      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            The precious dish
            Broke into shards of beauty on the board. --E.
                                                  Arnold.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Zool.) The hard wing case of a beetle.
      [1913 Webster]

            They are his shards, and he their beetle. --Shak.
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   3. A gap in a fence. [Obs.] --Stanyhurst.
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   4. A boundary; a division. [Obs. & R.] --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]