Etymograph

English

shard

Shard comes from Old English sċeard ‘a broken piece’, from Proto-West Germanic *skard ‘notch, nick’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardaz1‘damaged’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardą1‘notch’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skard1‘notch, nick’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeard1‘a broken piece’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shard1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2012shard1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English shard
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube: “You know there is something fascinating beyond that wall…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-Wiktionary, English shard‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardazWiktionary, English shard‘damaged’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardąWiktionary, English shard‘notch’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skardWiktionary, English shard‘notch, nick’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeardWiktionary, English shard‘a broken piece’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shardWiktionary, English shard
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2012shardWiktionary, English shard. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube: “You know there is something fascinating beyond that wall…”

The story

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.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’

across, short, cross, cancer, screen, score, circle, circuit, card, shirt, share, crucial, curve, circus, circulation, skirt, curb, scare, cancellation, scrutiny, crest, carnival, circa, shrine, scar, corona, scorpion, incarceration, raffle, circulate, corolla, scorn, carnage, crux, shred, cirque, carcinoma, riddance, circulatory, crepe, 118 more

Today it means

noun A piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shard”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- / shard

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