I like a good word challenge so when Sandy asked what a smithereen was, I didn’t wait around to be asked again.
smithereens —
pluralnoun informal
small pieces: a grenade blew him to smithereens .
ORIGIN early 19th cent.: probably from Irish smidirín .
so, noun plural because well if you’re blown to smithereens, you have lots and lots of smithereens, not just one…
as payment for this shred of knowledge, I am borrowing this lovely thought:
Like the exact explanation and like the thought.