potsherd

1 9.8

A broken piece of an old clay pot that people find when they dig for old things

noun
/ˈpɑːtʃərd/

Specialized

: fragmento de cerámica

During the archaeological dig, the team discovered several potsherds that revealed insights into ancient pottery designs.
prehistoric potsherds
potsherds found

And I want to start by asking how much seemingly unassuming potsherds and clay tiles can tell us about the consequences of Rome's fall.

Examples

During a recent visit, I found a group of students sorting through potsherds, examining the pieces and making notations.

Academic text (2007)
Since 1998, the Italian-French mission has found 7,000 papyri and many inscribed potsherds.

Academic text (2007)
From these, Crown selected five potsherds that she believed were from a cylinder jar or a pitcher.

Academic text (2010)
The last section of the excavation was finished, but a few large potsherds still jutted from the side wall.

Academic text (2006)
As one walks through the larger site, potsherds crunch underfoot.

Academic text (2011)
Using her knife, she pried potsherds from the mud and put them into the collection bag after carefully marking their positions.

Fiction book (2000)
The deer antlers and painted potsherds found nearby with the human remains were perhaps associated with the sacrificial ritual.

Academic text (2004)
At one point, the team excavated a concentration of potsherds that amounted to 70 cubic feet.

Academic text (2008)
I began to notice potsherds—luminous yellow-orange pieces, like little suns rising out of the ground.

Academic text (2007)
Archaeologists find deposits of discarded materials—scrap stone, flints, and potsherds—in the rubbish dumps of the Neolithic.

Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

sherd

vspotsherd

Specialized

1 9.9

A broken piece of pottery found at old sites

is limited to fragments of pottery rather than other brittle artifacts

Surface Forms

potsherd singular

potsherds plural

Morphology

potsherd = pot + sherd (transparent) = pot + sherd

The meaning is a literal combination of 'pot' and 'sherd' (a fragment), so the compound directly denotes a fragment of a pot.

Etymology

Potsherd is simply pot plus sherd, and sherd meant 'broken piece', like a 'shard' of glass. So a potsherd is a broken piece of pottery, the kind people often find at old sites.