splinter

See also: Splinter

English

WOTD – 1 February 2009

Pronunciation

• (non-rhotic)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsplɪn.tə/, [ˈspl̥ɪn.tʰə]
  • (General Australian)
    • (without nt-flapping) IPA^(key): /ˈsplɪn.tɚ/, [ˈspl̥ɪn.tʰə] ~ [ˈspl̥ɪn.tʰɐ̝]

      • Audio (Australia):

        (file)

    • (nt-flapping) IPA^(key): /ˈsplɪn̆.ə/, [ˈspl̥ɪn̆.ə] ~ [ˈspl̥ɪn̆.ɐ̝]
• (rhotic)
  • (US, Canada)
    • (without nt-flapping) IPA^(key): /ˈsplɪn.tɚ/, [ˈspl̥ɪn.tʰɚ] ~ [ˈspl̥ɪn.tʰɚ]

      • Audio (US):

        (file)

    • (nt-flapping) IPA^(key): /ˈsplɪɾ̃.ɚ/, [ˈspl̥ɪɾ̃.ɚ] ~ [ˈspl̥ɪɾ̃.ɹ̩]
• Rhymes: -ɪntə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: splin‧ter

Etymology 1

From Middle English splenter, splinter, from Middle Dutch splinter, equivalent to splint +‎ -er.

Noun

splinter (plural splinters)

1. A long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.
   2. A small such fragment that gets embedded in the flesh.
2. A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
3. (bridge) A double-jump bid which indicates shortage in the bid suit.
4. (linguistics) A fragment of a component word in a blend.

Synonyms

• (long sharp fragment): sliver, shard, spelk, spill.
• (group formed by splitting): faction, splinter group.

Derived terms

• antisplinter
• splinter bar
• splinter bone
• splintercat
• splinterize
• splinterless
• splinterlike
• splinternet
• splinter-new
• splinter party
• splinterproof
• splinter skill
• splintery

Translations

fragment of material

• Arabic: شَظِيَّة (ar) f (šaẓiyya)
• Armenian: տաշեղ (hy) (tašeġ)
• Aromanian: ashclji, aschlje
• Azerbaijani: tilişkə (az)
• Basque: ezpal
• Belarusian: ска́бка f (skábka), стрэ́мка f (strémka)
• Bulgarian: отло́мък (bg) m (otlómǎk), треска́ (bg) f (treská)
• Catalan: estella (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎤᏢᏓᎸᏓ (utlvdalvda)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碎片 (zh) (suìpiàn), 刺 (zh) (cì)

• Czech: tříska (cs) f, úlomek (cs) m, odštěpek m
• Dalmatian: sčela f
• Danish: splint c
• Dutch: splinter (nl) m
• Esperanto: splito
• Estonian: pind (et), kild (et)
• Finnish: säle (fi) (wood), sirpale (fi), pirstale (fi)
• French: éclat (fr) m, esquille (fr) f, écharde (fr) f
• Friulian: sclese f, scae
• Galician: estela (gl) f, racha f, acha (gl) f, pitela f, cavaco m, guizo f, lerca f, escádea f, trisca f, turraca f, lircha f, troupecelo m
• Georgian: ხიწვი (xic̣vi), ხიჭვი (xič̣vi)
• German: Splitter (de) m, Splinter m, Schiefer (de) m, Spreißel (de) m
• Greek: σκλήθρα (el) f (sklíthra), θραύσμα (el) n (thráfsma), (wood) ακίδα (el) f (akída)

  Ancient Greek: σχινδάλαμος m (skhindálamos)

• Hebrew: קֵיסָם (he) m (kesám), שְׁבָב (he) m (shvav)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: forgács (hu), szálka (hu)
• Ingrian: päre
• Irish: scealp f, scealpóg f
• Italian: scheggia (it) f
• Japanese: 破片 (ja) (はへん, hahen), 刺 (ja) (とげ, toge)
• Khmer: ចំរាស (cɑmriəh)
• Korean: 조각 (ko) (jogak), 지저깨비 (jijeokkaebi)
• Lao: ສ້ຽນ (sīan)
• Latin: assula f, schidia f
• Latvian: skaida f, skabarga f
• Lithuanian: drožlė f, rakštis f
• Macedonian: спица f (spica), деланка f (delanka), треска f (treska)
• Māori: koi (mi)
• Norman: êclyi m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flis m or f

• Occitan: astèla f, estèla (oc) f, ascla (oc) f, esquilha (oc) f
• Old English: speld n
• Persian: تریشه (fa) (teriše)
• Plautdietsch: Spekja m
• Polish: odłamek (pl) m, drzazga (pl) f
• Portuguese: farpa (pt) f
• Romanian: așchie (ro) f
• Russian: ще́пка (ru) f (ščépka), зано́за (ru) f (zanóza) (stuck in a body)
• Sardinian: alcia f, ascia f, ascra, astua f, astula f, schedra f, schelda f
• Scots: spail, pran
• Scottish Gaelic: spealg f
• Slovak: trieska f, štiepka f
• Slovene: trska (sl) f
• Spanish: (wood) astilla (es) f, (bone or metal) esquirla (es) f
• Swedish: flisa (sv) c, sticka (sv) c
• Tagalog: subyang
• Tajik: параха (paraxa)
• Thai: เสี้ยน (th) (sîian)
• Turkish: kıymık (tr)
• Ukrainian: ска́бка f (skábka), ска́лка f (skálka)
• Venetan: sgrexénda f, s-cexa (vec) f
• Walloon: schete (wa) f

group

• Czech: frakce (cs) f
• Dutch: splintergroep
• Finnish: sirpaleryhmä
• French: faction (fr) f
• Galician: bandaría f, bando m, faución f
• German: Splittergruppe (de) f
• Italian: fazione (it)
• Lithuanian: trupinys m
• Polish: odłam (pl) m
• Portuguese: facção (pt) f
• Romanian: facțiune (ro) f
• Russian: отщепе́нцы (ru) m pl (otščepéncy)
• Slovak: frakcia
• Swedish: avknoppning c, utbrytning (sv) c, utbrytargrupp (sv) c

Etymology 2

From the noun splinter.

Verb

splinter (third-person singular simple present splinters, present participle splintering, simple past and past participle splintered)

1. (intransitive) To come apart into long sharp fragments.

   The tall tree splintered during the storm.

   • 2012, Marcus Samuelsson, “One: My African Mother”, in Yes, Chef, Random House, →ISBN, page 6:

     It was all coming at her now: the fatigue and the fever; pieces of her lung splintering and mixing with her throwup; the calcifications on her bones, where the disease had already spread.

2. (transitive) To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.

   His third kick splintered the door.

   • 1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:

     After splintering their lances, they wheeled about, and […] abandoned the field to the enemy.

3. (figuratively, of a group) To break, or cause to break, into factions.

   The government splintered when the coalition members could not agree.

   The unpopular new policies splintered the company.

4. (transitive) To fasten or confine with splinters, or splints, as a broken limb.
   • 1659, Matthew Wren, Monarchy Asserted Or The State of Monarchicall & Popular Government:

     it will be very hard for Me to Splinter up the broken confuséd Pieces of it.

Synonyms

• sliver

Derived terms

• nonsplintering
• splinterable
• splinteringly
• splinter up
• unsplintered

Related terms

• splint

Translations

to come apart into splinters

• Bulgarian: разцепвам се (razcepvam se)
• Catalan: estellar (ca)
• Czech: štěpit (cs) se
• Dutch: versplinteren (nl), splinteren (nl)
• Finnish: pirstoutua (fi), mennä säpäleiksi
• French: broyer (fr)
• Galician: estelar (gl), espitallar, lascar, lasquear
• German: zersplittern (de)
• Italian: scheggiarsi (it)
• Portuguese: esfarpar
• Russian: расщепляться (ru) (rasščepljatʹsja), раскалываться (ru) (raskalyvatʹsja)
• Scottish Gaelic: spealg
• Slovak: štiepiť sa, rozštiepiť sa
• Spanish: astillarse (es)

to cause to break apart into splinters

• Bulgarian: цепя (bg) (cepja), разцепвам (bg) (razcepvam)
• Czech: štípat (cs)
• Dutch: versplinteren (nl)
• Finnish: pirstoa (fi), lyödä säpäleiksi, panna päreiksi
• Galician: rachar, estelar (gl), espitallar, lascar, lasquear
• German: zersplittern (de)
• Italian: scheggiare (it)
• Portuguese: esfarpar
• Russian: расщеплять (ru) (rasščepljatʹ), раскалывать (ru) (raskalyvatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: spealg
• Slovak: štiepať, rozštiepať, rozbiť, rozbíjať, sekať (sk), rozsekať
• Spanish: astillar (es)

to break or cause to break into factions

• Bulgarian: разцепвам (bg) (razcepvam)
• Czech: odštěpit se (to break)
• Finnish: hajota (fi) (to break); hajottaa (fi) (to cause to break)
• Italian: fare a pezzi (it), dividere (it)
• Slovak: rozdeliť, rozdeliť sa, štiepiť, rozštiepiť, štiepiť sa, rozštiepiť sa

to fasten or confine with splints

• Bulgarian: шинирам (šiniram)
• Finnish: lastoittaa (fi)

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch splinter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsplɪn.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: splin‧ter
• Rhymes: -ɪntər

Noun

splinter m (plural splinters, diminutive splintertje n)

1. splinter (long, sharp fragment of material)

Derived terms

• splinterpartij

Descendants

• Negerhollands: splinter
• → Papiamentu: spleenter (dated)

Middle English

Noun

splinter

1. alternative form of splenter