Matthew 14:20

Were filled

(εχορτασθησαν). Effective aorist passive indicative of χορταζω. See Matthew 5:6. From the substantive χορτος grass. Cattle were filled with grass and people usually with other food. They all were satisfied.Broken pieces

(των κλασματων). Not the scraps upon the ground, but the pieces broken by Jesus and still in the "twelve baskets" (δωδεκα κοφινους) and not eaten. Each of the twelve had a basketful left over (το περισσευον). One hopes that the boy (John 6:9) who had the five loaves and two fishes to start with got one of the basketsful, if not all of them. Each of the Gospels uses the same word here for baskets (κοφινος), a wicker-basket, called "coffins" by Wycliff. Juvenal (Sat. iii. 14) says that the grove of Numa near the Capenian gate of Rome was "let out to Jews whose furniture is a basket (cophinus) and some hay" (for a bed). In the feeding of the Four Thousand (Matthew and Mark) the word σφυρις is used which was a sort of hamper or large provisions basket.