different between element vs shard

English

Etymology

From Middle English element, from Old French element, from Latin elementum (“a first principle, element, rudiment”) (see further etymology there).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?l'?m?nt, IPA^(key): /??l?m?nt/
• Hyphenation: el?e?ment

Noun

element (plural elements)

1. One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides

     The simplicity which is so large an element in a noble nature was laughed to scorn.

   1. (chemistry) Any one of the simplest chemical substances that cannot be decomposed in a chemical reaction or by any chemical means and made up of atoms all having the same number of protons.
   2. One of the four basic building blocks of matter in theories of ancient philosophers and alchemists: water, earth, fire, and air.
   3. (law) A required aspect or component of a cause of action. A deed is regarded as a violation of law only if each element can be proved.
   4. (set theory) One of the objects in a set.
   5. Any of the teeth of a zip fastener.
2. A small part of the whole.
3. (obsolete) The sky.
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 69:

     Sometimes, solitude is of all things my wish; and the awful silence of the night, the spangled element, and the rising and setting sun, how promotive of contemplation!

4. (plural only, with "the") Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains.

5. A place or state of being that an individual or object is best suited to.

6. (Christianity, usually in the plural) The bread and wine taken at Holy Communion.
7. A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic.

8. A component in electrical equipment, often in the form of a coil, having a high resistance, thereby generating heat when a current is passed through it.

10. (computing) One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by tags.

Synonyms

• (in chemistry): chemical element, firststuff (rare, nonstandard)
• (in set theory): member

Hyponyms

• chemical element
• data element
• heating element

Derived terms

• single-element

Related terms

• elemental
• elementary

Translations

See also

• atom

Verb

element (third-person singular simple present elements, present participle elementing, simple past and past participle elemented)

1. (obsolete) To compound of elements.
   • 1633, John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

     those things which elemented [love]

   • 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist:

     elemented bodies

   • 1681, Maunyngham, Disc., page 89:

     thou art elemented and organed

2. (obsolete) To constitute and be the elements of.
   • 1658, Izaak Walton, Life of Donne:

     His very soul was elemented of nothing but sadness.

Related terms

• transelement

Further reading

• element in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• element in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

• Lehmann, R.G. (2011). "27-30-22-26 - How many letters needs an alphabet?". In de Voogt, A.; Quack, J.F. The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders. Brill. pp. 15–16, note 8.

Anagrams

• leetmen

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin elementum.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?.l??ment/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?.l??men/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /e.le?ment/

Noun

element m (plural elements)

1. element (clarification of this definition is needed)

Derived terms

• elemental
• element químic

Further reading

• “element” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “element” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “element” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “element” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Latin elementum

Noun

element

1. element.

Declension

References

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajins?ko-kryms?kotatars?kyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]?^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, ?ISBN

Danish

Noun

element n (singular definite elementet, plural indefinite elementer)

1. (set theory) element

Declension

References

• “element” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch element, from Old French element, from Latin elementum (“a first principle, element, rudiment”), of uncertain origin (see further etymology there).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?.l??m?nt/
• Hyphenation: ele?ment
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

element n (plural elementen, diminutive elementje n)

1. element
2. (chemistry) element
3. (set theory) element

Derived terms

• elementair

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: elemen

Anagrams

• leemten

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin elementum

Noun

element n (definite singular elementet, indefinite plural element or elementer, definite plural elementa or elementene)

1. an element

References

• “element” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin elementum

Noun

element n (definite singular elementet, indefinite plural element, definite plural elementa)

1. an element

References

• “element” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From Latin elementum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l?.m?nt/

Noun

element m inan

1. element (component, piece of a larger whole)
2. (derogatory) element (group of people)

Declension

Further reading

• element in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• element in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French élément, from Latin elementum.

Noun

element n (plural elemente)

1. element

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• (Bosnian, Serbian): elèmenat

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /el?ment/
• Hyphenation: e?le?ment

Noun

elèment m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. element

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

element n

1. element; basic building block of matter in ancient philosophy
2. element; a place or state of being that an individual or object is better suited towards
3. elements; forces of weather
4. element; an object in a set
5. (mathematics) element of a matrix
6. heating element, radiator
7. (computing) element; object in markup language

Declension

Related terms

• elementär
• elementa
• elementar-

Turkish

Etymology

From German Element.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?.le.?ment]
• Hyphenation: e?le?ment

Noun

element (definite accusative elementi, plural elementler)

1. (chemistry) element

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?a?d/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /???d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???d/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d

Etymology 1

From Middle English shard, scherd, scheard, schord, from Old English s?eard (“a broken piece; shard”), from Proto-Germanic *skard? (“notch; nick”), from *skardaz (“damaged; nicked; scarred”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Akin to Scots schaird (“shard”), French écharde (“splinter”), Dutch schaarde (“tear; notch; fragment”), German Scharte (“notch”), Old Norse skarð (“notch, hack”) ( > Danish skår).

The database sense is perhaps derived from the online gaming sense or from SHARD (System for Highly Available Replicated Data), name of a 1980s database product.

Alternative forms

• sherd

Noun

shard (plural shards)

1. A piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig.

   Synonym: potsherd
2. (by extension) A piece of material, especially rock and similar materials, reminding of a broken piece of glass or pottery.

   Synonym: splinter

   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)[2]

     Inside its exhibit hall, behind panes of glass, in a white-lit lab, a team of restorers works on an ancient Byzantine floor: 44 square yards of stone shards rescued from Lot’s Cave Monastery.

3. A tough scale, sheath, or shell; especially an elytron of a beetle.
4. (online gaming) An instance of an MMORPG that is one of several independent and structurally identical virtual worlds, none of which has so many players as to exhaust a system's resources.
   • 1997, Ultima Online. The term "shard" is related to the backstory of the game, in which the Gem of Immortality is shattered by the Stranger, the protagonist of Ultima I.

     "The planet was still bound to the jewel's magic, even as it lay shattered upon the floor of Mondain's castle. For,^[sic] within each shattered remnant of the jewel, dwelled a perfect likeness of Sosaria. Thus is the world in which you are born, live, and die. Brittania^[sic], that was once Sosaria, now exists as a thousand worlds, each with its own peoples, history and destiny. This Brittania^[sic] is but one of many in the multiverse that is... ...ULTIMA ONLINE." - Intro cinematic to the game, written by Michael Morlan [3]

5. (databases) A component of a sharded distributed database.

   Synonym: partition

6. (slang, in the singular or in the plural) A piece of crystal methamphetamine.

Derived terms

• potsherd

Translations

Verb

shard (third-person singular simple present shards, present participle sharding, simple past and past participle sharded)

1. (intransitive) To fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion.
2. (transitive) To break (something) into shards.
3. (online gaming, transitive) To divide (an MMORPG) into several shards, or to establish a shard of one.

Translations

References

• (pottery) Shard, in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.

Etymology 2

Noun

shard (uncountable)

1. The plant chard.
   • 1684, John Dryden, “From Horace, Epode 2” in The Second Part of Miscellany Poems, London: Jacob Tonson, 4th edition, p. 79,^[4]

     Not Heathpout, or the rarer Bird,

     Which Phasis, or Ionia yields,

     More pleasing Morsels would afford

     Than the fat Olives of my Fields;

     Than Shards or Mallows for the Pot,

     That keep the loosen’d Body sound,

     Or than the Lamb that falls by Lot,

     To the just Guardian of my Ground.

Anagrams

• Dhars, Hards, hards

Middle English

Noun

shard

1. Alternative form of scherd