Do you remember yesterday’s word of the day? An ostracon is a specific type of potsherd. It’s a fragment of a tablet used for writing, and even more specifically, for casting votes. (There’s a word for everything.) Perhaps this word is most useful to archaeologists who would be interested in finding ostracons in a dig site, but there’s another bit of trivia associated with the word. In ancient Athens, the ostracon was used for voting in ostracism — a practice of voting to banish a person considered to be a dangerous influence to the state for 10 years. This ancient practice evolved into the modern word “ostracism,” which still refers to exclusion from society, but not usually with an official vote.