matchstick

plural matchsticks · alternative match stick

1. A small, slender piece of wood or cardboard serving as a component of a match.

   Holonym: match

   2 more examples

   A piece of wood or cardboard becomes a matchstick once the end has been dipped in a sulfurous compound to turn it into a complete match.

   Local workers hike up the side of the mountain and down into the crater at the top to harvest its sulfur—a byproduct of the gas that escapes from the volcano’s vents and collects near the shores of an acidic lake at the crater’s center. The chemical is used in industry worldwide, from making matchsticks to vulcanizing rubber, but Ijen’s sulfur goes mostly to local factories, which use it to bleach sugar.

   2015 February 25, Kevin McElvaney, “Inside Indonesia's Ijen Volcano”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 06 Mar 2016

2. in pluralAny similarly small and thin piece.

   The explosion blew the powder shed to matchsticks.

   Synonyms: shred, sliver, splinter