potsherd
/ˈpɒt.ʃɜːd/
"potsherd" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“potsherd” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | potsherd |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɒt.ʃɜːd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “potsherd” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
potsherd is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɒt.ʃɜːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for potsherd in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-schord, pot scherd, pot scarth, from Middle English pot, pote, potte (“a container, pot, vessel; especially an earthenware vessel”) (from late Old English pot, pott (“a pot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a… The correct English form is potsherd, spelled P-O-T-S-H-E-R-D.
Definition
- 1A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.
Etymology
From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-schord, pot scherd, pot scarth, from Middle English pot, pote, potte (“a container, pot, vessel; especially an earthenware vessel”) (from late Old English pot, pott (“a pot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a type of vessel”)) + Middle English sherd (“piece of fired clay or broken earthenware; potsherd”) (from Old English sceard (“a shard, sherd”), from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“a nick, notch”)); equivalent to pot + sherd (“shard”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “potsherd”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-T-S-H-E-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɒt.ʃɜːd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.