A sliver is a small, thin, often pointed piece that has been cut or broken off something larger. A sliver of glass, a sliver of wood under your skin, a sliver of cheese, a sliver of almond: the piece is narrow, not a chunk. You can have a sliver of light under a door, or a sliver of hope, and then the word is being stretched from “a thin bit” to “a tiny amount.” The physical sense stays close to cutting and splitting. As a verb, to sliver something is to cut it into those thin pieces — cooks sliver garlic or almonds. It is a quiet, precise word, used in kitchens, workshops, and hospitals (a sliver of glass in a wound), and also in careful writing when someone wants “a tiny bit” to sound sharper than “a little.” It is not a slice. A slice is usually a flat, planned piece, like a slice of cake. A sliver is thinner, more like a splinter or a shaving, though a splinter is typically wood that has stabbed you, and a sliver can be of almost any material. Though actually, sliver and slither look like cousins on the page and are not. One is a thin piece; the other is a snake-like slide.