hards
nounUS /hɑɹdz/ · UK /hɑːdz/
Etymology From Middle English herdes, hurdes, plural of herde (“piece of hards”), from Old English heordan (“hards of flax, tow”), weak feminine plural of heorde (“headhair”), from Proto-West Germanic *heʀdā, from Proto-Germanic *hezdǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *kes- (“to comb, card”).
1
The short coarser fibers of flax or hemp; tow.