Shreds

How to spell shreds

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce shreds

What does shreds mean?

1. nounSmall strips or fragments torn or cut from something larger.
2. verbTears or cuts something into small strips, especially paper or food.

Shreds in a sentence

• noun

  The puppy tore the old cushion to shreds overnight.

• verb

  The office machine shreds confidential files at the end of each day.

• noun

  Only a few shreds of the original document survived the fire.

• verb

  She shreds the carrots before adding them to the salad.

Where does shreds come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English screade, meaning a piece cut off, a paring, or a fragment, which in turn came from a Germanic root tied to the idea of cutting and shearing. That same root connects it to the everyday word 'shear' and to the German 'Schrot' for chopped grain or coarse pieces. For centuries the noun named any small torn or cut strip, while the verb sense, to tear or cut into ragged pieces, grew naturally from it. The spelling kept its blunt single-syllable shape with the cluster 'shr-' at the front, a hallmark of native English words. The modern plural 'shreds' simply adds the regular '-s', and the same form doubles as the present-tense verb, as in 'she shreds the paper'.

How the word is built

• shred (Old English screade: a piece cut off)
• -s (plural/third-person suffix)