shard

noun

1. a fragment, especially of broken earthenware.
2. Zoology.
   1. a scale.
   2. a shell, as of an egg or snail.
3. Entomology. an elytron of a beetle.

noun

1. a broken piece or fragment of a brittle substance, esp of pottery
2. zoology a tough sheath, scale, or shell, esp the elytra of a beetle

n.also sherd, Old English sceard “incision, cleft, gap; potshard, a fragment, broken piece,” from Proto-Germanic *skardas (cf. Middle Dutch schaerde “a fragment, a crack,” Dutch schaard “a flaw, a fragment,” German Scharte “a notch,” Danish skaar “chink, potsherd”), a past participle from the root of Old English sceran “to cut” (see shear). Meaning “fragment of broken earthenware” developed in late Old English. Used late 14c. as “scale of a dragon.” French écharde “prickle, splinter” is a Germanic loan-word.