partition

UK/pɑːˈtɪ.ʃən/US/pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃən/

nounB2+2 meanings Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,668 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: partitions

A partition is a light wall dividing one room into two. Thin, temporary, and never quite soundproof.

Offices are full of them, and a partition wall is the standard term in building. The word carries a much heavier meaning in history, where the partition of a country means dividing it into separate states, and the Partition of India in 1947 is the best-known example. Computing uses it for dividing a disk into separate areas. As a verb it simply means to divide something in that way.

Definitions of partition

1nounpartitionA light wall dividing a space into parts.B2+
“They put a glass partition across the office.”
2noundivisionThe division of a country into separate states.C1
“Millions were displaced by partition.”

Where it comes from

A partition is a division. Latin partītiō meant a share or a splitting, from partiō, to divide, so the wall in a room and the carve-up of a country are one noun.

Proto-Indo-European
*perh₃-
Latin
partitio — division, portion
Old French
particion
Middle English
particioun
English, today
partition

Built from

partio · Latin — to split (up), part(ition)

Recorded c.1430, "division into shares, distinction," from Middle English particioun, from Old French particion (modern partition), from Latin partitio (“division, portion”), from partitus, the past participle of partio (“to split (up), part(ition)”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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