Word.ws English Dictionary

potsherd

Syllables: pot·sherd/ˈpɒt.ʃɜːd/US/ˈpɑt.ʃəɹd/

potsherd noun: a piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.

potsherd: a piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site
Image: Larry Lamsa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

potsherd (plural potsherds)

  1. (often) A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.
    • But this madde Amalecke, / Lyke to a Mamelek, / He regardeth lordes / No more than potshordes; […]a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth a Lytell Boke, whiche hath to Name Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […]...
    • [W]ho can deny but that the rod of Gods mouth is indeed Virga virtutis, a rod of strength, an iron rod, able to deale with all humane reaſonings, as a hammer with a potſherd, which though to the hand of a man it may feele as hard as a rocke, yet is too brittle to endure the blow of an iron rod?1632, Edward Reynoldes [i.e., Edward Reynolds], “Verse 2”, in An Explication of the Hvndreth and Tenth Psalme: […], London: Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke, […], →OCLC, page 149
    Synonyms:
    shard, sherd

potsherd meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu

potsherd in Hindi

potsherd, shard
ठीकरा ṭhīkrā

potsherd in Tamil

piece of ceramic from pottery
சில் cil, ஓடு ōṭu

potsherd in Urdu

خذف

potsherd in Telugu

piece of ceramic from pottery
చిల్లపెంకు cillapeṅku
More languagesFewer languages
potsherd in Kannada
ಬಕರೆ, ಪರಟೆ, ಓಡು, ಬೋಕಿ
potsherd in Gujarati
ઠીકરું ṭhīkrũ
potsherd in Pashto
ګيټۍ giṭëi

Synonyms of potsherd

Forms of potsherd

pluralpotsherds
alternative formpotshard
alternative formpot-sherd

Origin of potsherd

From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-schord, 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”), 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”), from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“a nick, notch”)); equivalent to pot + sherd (“shard”).

Questions about potsherd

What does potsherd mean?
Potsherd means a piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.
What is potsherd in Hindi?
Potsherd in Hindi is ठीकरा (ṭhīkrā). See Potsherd meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is potsherd?
Potsherd is a noun.
How do you pronounce potsherd?
Potsherd is pronounced /ˈpɒt.ʃɜːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of potsherd?
The plural of potsherd is potsherds.

Words near potsherd in the dictionary

  1. potshards
  2. potshare
  3. potshares
  4. potshaw
  5. potshaws
  6. potsherd
  7. potsherds
  8. potshoot
  9. potshooter
  10. potshooters
  11. potshooting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: potsherd (page history and authors); ठीकरा (Hindi) (page history and authors); potsherd (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); potsherd (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ઠીકરું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ګيټۍ (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-potsherd.wav.

Cite this entry: “potsherd.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/potsherd. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.