Smithereens
Tiny fragments, splinters, broken bits. Almost always in the construction 'blown to smithereens', 'smashed to smithereens', or 'gone to smithereens'. The plural is non-negotiable; one smithereen is rare and feels wrong.
Etymology
Origin not fully settled. The most widely accepted reading takes it from Irish 'smidiríní' (or 'smiodairíní'), the diminutive plural of 'smiodar' (a broken piece or fragment). The diminutive '-ín' suffix doubled with the plural marker gives a word that means 'lots of little broken bits'. A competing reading takes it from English 'smither' (a fragment) plus the Irish diminutive '-een'. Either route lands at the same Hiberno-English destination. Recorded from at least the early nineteenth century.
In a sentence
"The plate hit the tiles and went to smithereens."
Historical notes
Smithereens has travelled further than most Hiberno-English borrowings: it is now standard informal English on both sides of the Atlantic, used without any flag of Irishness. The plural-only constraint is preserved everywhere it goes - 'a smithereen' would sound wrong to a Dublin speaker and to a Boston one. The 'blown to' collocation is so dominant it has begun to colour the word's neutral sense; without the implied violence, smithereens are rarely small fragments on the kitchen floor.
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry smithereens n.pl. · dictionary