Etymologically
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splinter

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsplɪn.tə/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English splinter, also splentre and splindre,[2][3] borrowed from Middle Dutch splinter, also splenter,[4][3][5][6][7][8] related to splinte, the source of splint.[3][5][7] Dictionary.com allows Middle Low German splinter as the source as well,[9] and the OED compares Dutch splinter, West Frisian splinter and Low German splinter, the source of the German form.[4] Merriam-Webster relates it to Middle Low German splinte (“splint”),[6] and Klein compares German Splitter and refers to split.[10] The verb was formed from the noun in the 16th century;[4][11][3] the OED compares Dutch splinteren and German splintern.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sliver of wood: before 1325, glossing a French word in Bibbesworth's treatise;[2][3] the OED's first record is from 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew, where a reed hurts the hand with splinters.[4][2] Etymonline dates the noun to the early 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word could also mean a kind of wart.[2] Etymonline notes a Middle English verb splinder, to shatter, used of a spear in the mid 15th century,[5] and the Shorter Oxford records a chiefly Scottish form of the noun with -d-.[12] The verb splinter, to split into long thin pieces, is recorded from 1582, in Stanyhurst's Virgil,[4][3][5] with figurative use from 1603, in Hamlet,[4][5] and intransitive use from before 1661 in the OED, or from the 1620s in Etymonline.[4][5] From 1597 to 1720 it also meant to fasten with splints,[4] a sense Johnson (1755) illustrated from Othello;[13] the noun for a surgical splint (1598) is obsolete or dialectal,[4] and survived in Suffolk.[14] A splinter was also a strip of wood prepared for a purpose (1648) and one used as a torch or dipped in tallow as a candle (1751),[4] the latter still in southern Ireland in the 19th century.[14] The political sense began with attributive use, as in splinter party, from 1935;[3][5] splinter alone for a splinter group is recorded from 1948, originally in the US,[4] and the verb for breaking away into factions from 1967.[4] In slang a splinter was a very thin person (1839),[15] and in North Yorkshire dialect the verb meant to splutter, as fat from a frying rasher.[14]

Timeline

  • before 1325 – noun, a sliver of wood.[2][3]
  • 1398 – a sharp piece of wood, bone or stone broken off.[4]
  • 1582 – verb, to break into splinters.[4][3]
  • 1597 – verb, to fasten with splints (obsolete by 1720).[4]
  • 1598 – noun, a surgical splint.[4]
  • 1603 – verb, figurative use.[4][5]
  • 1609 – a tiny piece; something worthless.[4]
  • before 1661 – verb, intransitive, to break into splinters.[4] Etymonline dates intransitive use to the 1620s.[5]
  • 1751 – a splinter of wood used as a torch or candle.[4]
  • 1935 – attributive, of a group broken away from a larger one, as in splinter party.[3][5]
  • 1948 – noun, a splinter group.[4]
  • 1967 – verb, to break away as a splinter group.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small, thin, sharp piece of wood, glass, metal or the like, broken off from a larger piece; a sliver: He worked a splinter out of his thumb with a needle.[16][6][4]
  2. A metal fragment thrown out by an exploding shell or bomb.[16]
  3. A splinter group.[4][6]
  4. (obsolete or dialect) A surgical splint.[4][14]

Adjective

  1. Of a group or faction that has broken away from a larger organization: a splinter party.[6][3]

Verb

  1. To break, or be broken, into splinters; to shatter: The door splintered under the axe.[16][6][4][7]
  2. Of a group, to split into smaller groups, usually after a disagreement.[7][6][4]

Word family

  • splintery
  • splinterless
  • unsplintered

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ 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 z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d 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)
  15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins