segment

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɛɡ.mənt/, /ˈsɛɡmɛnt/; /sɛɡˈmɛnt/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin segmentum (“a strip or piece cut off”),^[2][3][4] from secāre (“to cut”) (see section),^[2][3][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”), with -c- changed to -g- before -m-.^[3] Medieval Latin used segmentum as a term of geometry.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In geometry, part of a circle cut off by a line: 1570.^[2][6][4]

Semantic evolution

A piece cut or broken off is from 1586,^[6] and a finite part of a line between two points from 1617.^[6] The general sense of a division or section is first recorded in 1762.^[2] The verb, of cell division, is from 1859, and to divide something into segments from 1872.^[3][2] A part of an animal's body, such as a ring of an insect or worm, and a section of a market or a broadcast are later uses.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1570 – a segment of a circle.^[2][6]
• 1617 – a segment of a line.^[6]
• 1762 – a division or section.^[2]
• 1859 – the verb.^[3][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of the parts into which something is or can be divided; a section.
2. (geometry) The part of a line between two points, or of a circle between a chord and an arc.
3. (biology) Any of the similar ring-like sections of an animal's body, as in a worm.

Verb

1. To divide or become divided into segments.

Word family

• segmentary
• segmentate
• intersegment
• macrosegment
• microsegment
• multisegment
• segmental
• segmentize

Related words

• secant
• sect
• section
• sector
• segmentation
• somite
• insect
• bisect
• saw

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins