shard
n.n. a small, sharp piece of something that has been broken. In computing, it can also mean a small piece of data or a part of a larger system.
n. a small, sharp fragment of a broken object; in a technical context, a discrete portion of a larger data set or a component of a distributed system.
A shard of glass cut my hand.
The developer split the large database into smaller shards to improve the website's performance.
After the glass shattered, a single shard embedded itself in the wooden frame, leaving a small but deep puncture that required immediate attention.
From Middle English shard, scherd, scheard, schord, from Old English sċeard (“a broken piece; shard”), from Proto-West Germanic skard, from Proto-Germanic skardą (“notch; nick”), from skardaz (“damaged; nicked; scarred”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)ker- (“to cut”). Akin to Scots schaird (“shard”), French écharde (“splinter”), Dutch schaarde (“tear; notch; fragment”), German Scharte (“notch”), Old Norse skarð (“notch, hack”) ( > Danish skår). The database sense is perhaps derived from the online gaming sense or from SHARD (System for Highly Available Replicated Data), name of a 1980s database product.