noun

a small piece of something removed in the course of chopping, cutting, or breaking a hard material such as wood or stone.

mulch the shrubs with cedar chips

fragment,piece,bit,sliver,splinter,spell,spillikin,shaving,paring,scrap,snippet,flake,shard,skelf,gallet,spall

verb

cut or break (a small piece) from a hard material.

we had to chip ice off the upper deck

nick,crack,snick,scratch,damage