A piece or fragment of a broken pot.

A broken piece of pottery. Here, we encounter a fascinating linguistic problem. Despite the spelling, the English pronounce the word shard, just as they do Darby for Derby and clark for clerk. American historical archaeologists now pronounce the word as it is spelled, while the English have begun to spell it with an a--a perfect example of two nations divided by a common language.

(POT·sherd). Fragment of a ceramic vessel also called a sherd.

a common term for an invalid document, like the modern term 'a scrap of paper'