potsherd

See also: pot-sherd

English

WOTD – 20 October 2018

Etymology

Potsherds from Poshuouinge, a large ancestral Pueblo ruin on U.S. Route 84, south of Abiquiú, New Mexico, USA

From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-shō̆rd,[1] pot scherd, pot scarth, from Middle English pot, pote, potte (“a container, pot, vessel; especially an earthenware vessel”) (from late Old English pot, pott (“a pot”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a type of vessel”)) + Middle English sherd (“piece of fired clay or broken earthenware; potsherd”) (from Old English sceard (“a shard, sherd”),[3] from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“a nick, notch”)); equivalent to pot +‎ sherd (“shard”).

Pronunciation

Noun

potsherd (plural potsherds)

  1. (often archaeology) A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.

Alternative forms

Synonyms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “pot-shō̆rd, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 November 2017.
  2. ↑ “pot(e, n.(1)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. ↑ “sherd, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 November 2017.

Further reading

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