departmental

Etymology

It is borrowed from French départemental,^[2][3] from département, the source of department, and the suffix -al.^[2] The Shorter Oxford instead treats it as formed in English with the suffix -al.^[4] The French noun is a derivative of départir (“to divide”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to a French département, one of the administrative divisions created during the Revolution: 1791, in James Mackintosh's Vindiciae Gallicae.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English through French politics, and the general sense "relating to a department or branch of government, or of any organized system" followed in 1832, in Southey.^[2][3] From 1883 it could also refer to any district or region,^[2] and since 1911 to a store made up of several departments; the Shorter Oxford records departmental store as a synonym of department store.^[2][4] Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1848) listed the word, quoting Burke on the French departmental guards.^[5]

Timeline

• 1791 – relating to a French département.^[2][3][6]
• 1832 – relating to a department of government or of any organized system.^[2][3][6]
• 1883 – relating to a district or region.^[2][6]
• 1911 – of a store, made up of several departments.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to or belonging to a department of a government, business, university or other organization: a departmental budget.^[7][2][4]
2. Relating to a département of France.^[2][3]
3. Of a store, made up of several departments.^[2][4]

Word family

• departmentalism
• departmentalize
• departmental store

Related words

• department
• depart

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
6. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster