Meaning

noun a thin sliver of wood

noun an orthopedic mechanical device used to immobilize and protect a part of the body (as a broken leg)

verb support with a splint

originFrom Middle English splint, splent, splente, from Middle Low German splinte, splente or Middle Dutch splint, splinte. Cognate with Old High German splinza (“bar, bolt, latch”). All ultimately from Proto-Germanic *splintǭ, *splintō (“piece of wood, splinter”), from Proto-Germanic *splint-, *splind- (“to split”), from a nasalized form of *splītaną (“to split”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley-…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0