Etymologically
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segment

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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