"torn into shreds," 1570s, past-participle adjective from shred (v.). Shredded wheat, grain cut into long filaments, frequently eaten for breakfast, is recorded from 1885.
Entries linking to shredded
shred v.
Middle English shreden, "chop, cut up into small strips or slices," from Old English screadian "to peel, prune, cut off," from Proto-Germanic *skraud- (source also of Middle Dutch scroden, Dutch schroeien, Old High German scrotan, German schroten "to shred"), from root of shred (n.). In reference to the destruction of documents, by 1906. Related: Shredded; shredding.