Etymologically
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part

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɑːt/ (UK); /pɑːrt/ (US)[1][2]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English part, borrowed from Old French part (“share, portion; side”),[3][4][5] from Latin pars (“part, piece, share”) (accusative partem),[4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *perə- (“to grant, allot”).[7][4][8] It is related to portiō (“share”) (see portion).[4][9] Late Old English had part “part of speech”, taken directly from Latin;[4][8][10] Etymonline and Barnhart treat it as a rare word that did not survive, while Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford derive the Middle English word from both Old English and French.[4][3][11][12] The verb is inherited from Middle English parten, borrowed from Old French partir (“to divide, separate”), from Latin partīre (“to share, divide”), partīrī, from pars.[4][3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, a part of speech (in Ælfric's Grammar, c. 1000);[8][14] in Middle English, a division or portion of a whole (about 1250).[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Part has replaced the native deal in most of its senses.[4][15] The meaning “allotted share” dates from about 1300, and that of a share in some activity, a role or duty, from the late 14th century.[4] The theatrical sense (late 15th century) comes from an actor's share in a performance, as Latin partes was also used.[4][15] In music a part is one of the voices or instruments in a piece (1520s).[4] From 1561 parts meant a person's abilities or talents, as in a man of parts.[16][15] A part of a machine is recorded by 1813 in Etymonline, 1886 in the OED.[4][14] The parting of the hair was called a part by 1890 in American English; the older word was parting (1690s).[4] The verb meant “to depart, leave” about 1200 and “to cause to separate” in the late 13th century;[4][3] to part the hair dates from the 1610s, and part with, to give up, from the 1580s, having earlier meant “to share with”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – Old English part, a part of speech.[14][8]
  • c. 1200 – verb, to depart.[4][3]
  • c. 1250 – a division of a whole.[3][4]
  • late 13th century – verb, to divide or separate.[4]
  • late 14th century – a role or duty, take part, for the most part.[4]
  • 1488 – a character in a play.[16]
  • 1513 – as an adverb, partly.[3][11]
  • 1561 – parts, talents.[16]
  • 1597 – as an adjective, in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV.[8]
  • 1615 – to part the hair.[14][16]
  • 1813 – a piece of a machine.[4]
  • 1890 – the parting of the hair (US).[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A portion or division of a whole; a piece or segment.
  2. One of several equal quantities making up a mixture: two parts flour to one part water.
  3. A division of a book, play or serial.
  4. A component of a machine.
  5. An organ or member of the body; in the plural, the genitals.
  6. A role in a play or film; one's share in an activity, or one's duty.
  7. (music) The melody or line for one voice or instrument.
  8. (usually plural) A region or district: in these parts.
  9. A side in a dispute: take someone's part.
  10. (usually plural) A talent or ability.
  11. (US) The line where the hair is parted.

Verb

  1. To divide or separate into parts.
  2. To go apart; to leave one another.
  3. To comb the hair away from a dividing line.
  4. To give up possession of (part with).
  5. (archaic) To die.

Adverb

  1. Partly; in part: part right.

Adjective

  1. Partial; not complete: part payment.

Word family

  • underpart
  • apartment
  • depart
  • impart
  • participate
  • participation
  • participant
  • participle
  • participial
  • participialize
  • partner
  • party
  • partisan
  • partisanism
  • partial
  • partite
  • partitive
  • partition
  • particle
  • particular
  • apart
  • portion
  • parcel

Usage notes

Part is the general word for something less than the whole.[17] Random House distinguishes piece (a complete unit or irregular fragment), portion (a part allotted to someone) and segment (a part into which something divides naturally).[17]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  14. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  16. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  17. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House