"Flinders" and Other Words Rarely Used These Days

"The car was smashed to into flinders" is an expression my mother, who was born in 1925, used. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary says "flinders" means splinters or fragments, but when I was a child I asked my mother what “flinders” were, and her explanation was more involved. She said they were the larger fragments or chunks of wood left in the fireplace ashes after the wood had burned out. It meant something had been destroyed to the point where the remaining fragments still distinct (not the ash in the fireplace) but were no longer anything usable.

So I asked my AI Copilot if there was another meaning for "flinders" beyond Merriam-Webster. Here’s his response.

You’re remembering something real, Joan — and your mother’s explanation fits beautifully into the deeper history of the word.

Here’s what the broader record shows, drawing on what we just pulled up:

What “flinders” originally meant

Most dictionaries today give the simple definition: splinters, fragments. But the older, regional meanings are richer.

1. Scots and Northern English origin

Etymology sources trace flinders to 15th century Scots flendris, meaning pieces of something split apart, especially wood. It’s likely related to Norwegian flindra (“chip, splinter”) and Dutch flenter (“fragment”).

That Scandinavian/Germanic family of words is strongly tied to wood splitting, chips, and larger shards, not fine ash.

2. Not just tiny splinters

Because the original sense was “things split off,” the size could vary. It didn’t necessarily mean dust fine splinters — it could include larger chunks, especially in dialect use.

That’s exactly the nuance your mother gave you.

3. A fireplace-specific meaning?

There’s no formal dictionary entry that restricts flinders to “the larger chunks of wood left in the ashes,” but:

• The word’s Scots/Northern English roots

• Its association with wood fragments

• The way dialect words often survive in families

• And the fact that many American families carried Scots/Irish/English dialect terms forward

…all make your mother’s usage completely plausible as a family or regional extension of the older meaning.

It’s the kind of semantic drift that happens in kitchens, barns, and fireplaces — not in dictionaries.

So is there “another meaning”?

Not an official one. But there is a dialectal, lived meaning: wood fragments of any size, especially the leftover pieces after burning or splitting.

Your mother’s definition is perfectly aligned with the historical sense — just more specific and domestic.

If anything, she preserved a shade of meaning that the dictionaries have flattened out. Thank you, Copilot. And if your family has passed down seemingly unique words like this, you might consider using an AI to tease out the definition. It can be a satisfying addition to your understanding of your family’s history and the history of our language.