shatter

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English schateren (“to scatter, disperse”),^[2][3][4] of obscure origin.^[5][6][7] The MED treats it as a form of scateren, the source of scatter.^[8] Etymonline takes it as probably a variant of that verb, perhaps reflecting a confusion of the initial sounds under Norse influence,^[2] and Weekley, Klein and Skeat as a doublet of it.^[9][10][11] The American Heritage Dictionary derives it from an unrecorded Old English *sceaterian (“to scatter”),^[4] and Barnhart thinks that both Middle English verbs probably represent such an Old English verb, cognate with Middle Dutch schateren and Middle Low German schāteren (“to resound, laugh loudly”).^[3] The OED notes that shatter and scatter are commonly regarded as southern and northern forms of one Old English verb, referred to a Germanic root Proto-Germanic *skat- related to Ancient Greek σκεδάννυμι (skedánnumi, “to scatter”), but doubts that the two are etymologically identical, although their senses overlap.^[5] The Shorter Oxford and the Concise Oxford suggest instead that it is perhaps imitative, with the frequentative ending of batter.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To scatter or throw about in all directions: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin;^[5] Barnhart dates it probably before 1300, in the same text, with the sense "to break apart".^[3] Etymonline dates it to the mid-14th century, implied in toschatered.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, "to scatter, disperse", is now obsolete except in dialect,^[5][12][14] and Weekley points to Milton's Lycidas for it.^[9] The sense "to break in pieces with a sudden blow" appears in the mid-15th century,^[2][5] in Lovelich's History of the Holy Grail (before 1450).^[5] The intransitive "to fly into pieces" is recorded from 1567,^[5][2] and in farming the verb was used from 1577 of grain dropping from the husk when over-ripe,^[5][15] Figurative uses followed: from 1683 it was used of ruining fortunes or hopes,^[5] and Fanny Burney used it in 1785 of wrecking a person's health or nerves;^[5] informally it now also means to tire out completely.^[14] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to break at once into many pieces.^[16] A rare sense "to clatter, rattle" is recorded from before 1400.^[5][12] In the dialects of southern and western England shatter meant to scatter or sprinkle, and of grain to burst from the ear, and the noun a sprinkling or a fair crop, as of hops in Kent; in Worcestershire to shatter out was to quarrel.^[17] Scots also had shatter, to chirp, a dialect form of chatter.^[17][5]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – to scatter, disperse, throw about.^[5] Barnhart dates the word probably before 1300.^[3]
• before 1400 – to clatter, rattle (rare).^[5]
• before 1450 – to break in pieces by a sudden blow.^[5][2]
• before 1513 – to damage a building, a body or an army ruinously.^[5]
• 1567 – intransitive, to break suddenly into fragments.^[5][2]
• 1577 – of grain, to drop from the husk.^[5]
• before 1640 – noun, shatters, fragments.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 1630s.^[2]
• 1683 – figurative, to destroy hopes or fortunes.^[5]
• 1785 – to wreck a person's health or nerves.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To break or be broken suddenly into many small pieces: A stone shattered the kitchen window.^[14][15][5]
2. To damage badly or destroy: The scandal shattered his career.^[14][15]
3. To upset someone deeply; to stun: She was shattered by the verdict.^[14][15]
4. (informal) To tire out completely.^[14]
5. Of grain or petals, to drop or be shed.^[15][5]
6. (obsolete) To scatter or disperse.^[5][14][12]

Noun

1. (usually plural) A fragment: The vase lay in shatters.^[15][5][16]
2. The act of shattering, or the state of being shattered.^[15]

Word family

• shatteringly
• shatterer
• nonshatter
• shatterproof
• earth-shattering
• shatter cone

Related words

• scatter
• chatter

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)