splinter
n.a small, sharp piece of wood, glass, or metal that breaks off a larger object. It can get stuck under your skin and feel painful.
n.a small, thin, sharp fragment of a material such as wood, glass, or metal, typically detached from a larger mass by force.
“I got a splinter in my finger while fixing the wooden fence.”
“The old wooden floor was so worn that walking barefoot often resulted in a painful splinter.”
“The impact of the projectile caused the timber to shatter, sending splinters flying across the room and posing a significant hazard to anyone nearby.”
Often used with the verb 'get' or 'remove'.
From Middle English splinter, from Middle Dutch splinter, equivalent to splint + -er.
From the noun splinter.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.