sliver

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
sliver /ˈslɪvə, ˈslʌɪ-/

▶noun

• 1 a small, narrow, sharp piece cut or split off a larger piece.

• 2 a strip of loose untwisted textile fibres produced by carding.

▶verb

• 1 cut or break into slivers.

• 2 convert (textile fibres) into slivers.

– origin ME: from dial. slive ‘cleave’.