Shred

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ʃɹɛd/

Definitions

1. A long, narrow strip torn or cut from something; a very small piece or scrap; to tear or cut into thin strips
2. A thin fragment separated from a larger whole; a tiny amount or portion; to slice or rip into slender parts
3. A narrow strip of material removed by cutting or tearing; a minute quantity or trace of something; to reduce into narrow pieces by shredding action

Etymology: Before "shred" named a torn scrap, it meant a paring or a cut-off piece, which is why the word's oldest sense is about trimming rather than tearing. Its Old English form, "sċrēad," came from a Proto-Germanic root "skraudō" meaning a piece, crack or cut, and that ancestor traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cut off." The same root produced the verb "to shred," which in Old English meant to cut up, prune or trim, and only later narrowed toward tearing into strips. The word has an unusual relative. "Escrow," the legal term for a document held by a third party until conditions are met, is a doublet of "shred": both descend from the same ancient source but reached English by different routes, one through Old French and one through the native Germanic line.

Synonyms: tear, rip, fragment, slice, cut

Antonyms: unite, repair, join, mend, assemble