part

The noun is from Middle English part, from Old English part (“part”) and Old French part (“part”); both from Latin partem, accusative of pars (“piece, portion, share, side, party, faction, role, character, lot, fate, task, lesson, part, member”), from Proto-Indo-European *par-, *per- (“to sell, exchange”). The verb is from Middle English parten, from Old French partir. Akin to portio (“a portion, part”), parare (“to make ready, prepare”). Displaced Middle English del, dele (“part”) (from Old English dǣl (“part, distribution”) > Modern English deal (“portion; amount”)), Middle English dale, dole (“part, portion”) (from Old English dāl (“portion”) > Modern English dole), Middle English sliver (“part, portion”) (from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave”), from Old English (tō)slīfan (“to split”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɑːt/
• (General American) enPR: pärt, IPA^(key): /pɑɹt/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /pɐːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t

part (plural parts)

1. A portion; a component.
   1. A fraction of a whole.

      Gaul is divided into three parts.

      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:

        Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

      • 2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11:

        America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.

   2. A distinct element of something larger.

      The parts of a chainsaw include the chain, engine, and handle.

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

        It had been arranged as part of the day's programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake.

      • 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):

        A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.

   3. A group inside a larger group.
   4. Share, especially of a profit.

      I want my part of the bounty.

   5. A unit of relative proportion in a mixture.

      The mixture comprises one part sodium hydroxide and ten parts water.

   6. 3.5 centiliters of one ingredient in a mixed drink.
   7. A section of a document.

      Please turn to Part I, Chapter 2.

   8. A section of land; an area of a country or other territory; region.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

        […] the Faery knight / Besought that Damzell suffer him depart, / And yield him readie passage to that other part.

   9. (mathematics, dated) A factor.

      3 is a part of 12.

   10. (US) A room in a public building, especially a courtroom.
2. Duty; responsibility.

   to do one’s part

   1. Position or role (especially in a play).

      We all have a part to play.

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

        We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

        He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

   2. (music) The melody played or sung by a particular instrument, voice, or group of instruments or voices, within a polyphonic piece.

      The first violin part in this concerto is very challenging.

   3. Each of two contrasting sides of an argument, debate etc.; "hand".
      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 15, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 356:

        Meaning to to gaine thereby, that the fruition of life, cannot perfectly be pleaſing vnto vs, if we ſtand in any feare to looſe it. A man might nevertheleſſe ſay on the contrarie part, that we embrace and claſp this good ſo much the harder, and with more affection, as we perceive it to be leſſe ſure, and feare it ſhould be taken from vs.

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 9:40:

        He that is not against us is on our part.

      • 1650, Edmund Waller, to my Lady Morton (epistle)

        Make whole kingdoms take her brother's part.

3. (US) The dividing line formed by combing the hair in different directions.

   The part of his hair was slightly to the left.

4. (Judaism) In the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, a unit of time equivalent to 3⅓ seconds.
5. A constituent of character or capacity; quality; faculty; talent; usually in the plural with a collective sense.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     which maintained so politic a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them.

   • 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:

     men of considerable parts

   • 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:

     great quickness of parts

• (action of a whole): piece, portion, component, element
• (group within a larger group): faction, party
• (position or role): position, role
• (hair dividing line): parting (UK), shed, shoad/shode
• (Hebrew calendar unit): chelek
• See also Thesaurus:part

• car part
• spare part

• whole

• → Cantonese: part (paat¹), parts (paat¹ si²) (from the plural noun form)
• → Japanese: パート (pāto), パーツ (pātsu) (from the plural noun form)

part (third-person singular simple present parts, present participle parting, simple past and past participle parted)

1. (intransitive) To leave the company of.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:

     He wrung Bassanio's hand, and so they parted.

   • 1879, Anthony Trollope, John Caldigate:

     It was strange to him that a father should feel no tenderness at parting with an only son.

   • 1841, “There is an Hour when I must Part”, Andrew Reed (lyrics)‎:

     There is an hour when I must part / From all I hold most dear

   • 1860, George Eliot, Recollections of Italy:

     his precious bag, which he would by no means part from

2. To cut hair with a parting.
3. (transitive) To divide in two.

   to part the curtains

   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

     I run the canoe into a deep dent in the bank that I knowed about; I had to part the willow branches to get in; and when I made fast nobody could a seen the canoe from the outside.

4. (intransitive) To be divided in two or separated.

   A rope parts.  His hair parts in the middle.

5. (transitive, now rare) To divide up; to share.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke:

     He that hath ij. cootes, lett hym parte with hym that hath none: And he that hath meate, let him do lyke wyse.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     He left three sonnes, his famous progeny, / Borne of faire Inogene of Italy; / Mongst whom he parted his imperiall state […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 19:24:

     They parted my raiment among them.

   • c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

     to part his throne, and share his heaven with thee

   • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter number or name)”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:

     Her friend parted his breakfast — a scanty mess of coffee and some coarse bread — with the child and her grandfather, and inquired whither they were going.

6. (obsolete) To have a part or share; to partake.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 30:24:

     They shall part alike.

7. To separate or disunite; to remove from contact or contiguity; to sunder.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii]:

     The narrow seas that part / The French and English.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 24:51:

     While he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."

8. (obsolete) To hold apart; to stand or intervene between.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:

     The stumbling night did part our weary powers.

9. To separate by a process of extraction, elimination, or secretion.

   to part gold from silver

   • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC:

     The liver minds his own affair, […] / And parts and strains the vital juices.

10. (transitive, archaic) To leave; to quit.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

      since presently your souls must part your bodies

11. (transitive, Internet) To leave (an IRC channel).
    • 2000, Phantom, “Re: Uhm... hi... I guess...”, in alt.support.boy-lovers (Usenet):

      He parted the channel saying "SHUTUP!" […] so I queried him, asking if there was something I could do […] maybe talk […] so we did […] since then, I've been seeing him on IRC every day (really can't imagine him not being on IRC anymore actually).

part (not comparable)

1. Fractional; partial.

   Fred was part owner of the car.

part (not comparable)

1. Partly; partially; fractionally.

   Part finished

2. (with reference to a person's ethnicity) to a partial degree.

   My Native American friend is also part German and part French.

• part-finance
• part-fund
• take part

• part on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “part”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “part”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “part”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• TRAP, patr-, prat, rapt, rtPA, tarp, trap

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpart]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈpaɾt]
• (Central, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈpar/
• (Alghero) IPA^(key): /ˈpaɫt/
• Rhymes: -aɾt

From Old Catalan part, from Latin partus.

part m (plural parts)

1. birthing (act of giving birth)

   Synonyms: deslliurament, desocupament

2. (figuratively) birth of an idea

• parir

From Old Catalan part, from Latin partem, from Proto-Italic *partis.

part f (plural parts)

1. part, portion

   les parts (genitals, privates parts)

• parcial
• partir

Borrowed from Latin Parthus (“Parthia”).

part (feminine parta, masculine plural parts, feminine plural partes)

1. Parthian

part m (plural parts, feminine parta)

1. Parthian

• Pàrtia

• “part” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “part”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “part” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “part” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From English part.

part

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) part, portion, or component of the whole

   份卷呢一part我全部都唔識。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   份卷呢一part我全部都唔识。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   fan⁶ gyun² ni¹ jat¹ paat¹ ngo⁵ cyun⁴ bou⁶ dou¹ m⁴ sik¹. [Jyutping]

   I don't know how to do any of the questions in this part of the paper.

part

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Classifier for part, portion, or component of the whole.
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Classifier for the activity of dancing.
   • 2001, Shaolin Soccer, spoken by an entourage of Hung (莫偉文):

     冇嘢睇㗎喇！使唔使我一陣落去跳返part舞頂住啊？ [Cantonese, trad.]
     冇嘢睇㗎喇！使唔使我一阵落去跳返part舞顶住啊？ [Cantonese, simp.]

     mou⁵ je⁵ tai² gaa³ laa³! sai² m⁴ sai² ngo⁵ jan¹ lok⁶ heoi³ tiu³ faan¹ paat¹ mou⁵ ding² zyu⁶ aa¹? [Jyutping]

     There's nothing left that is watch-worthy [in this game of soccer]! Do you need me to later go and have a dance down there [in the soccer field] to entertain the audience?

• parts

Clipping of English partner.[1]

part

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to partner with

   我part住佢做嘢好開心。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我part住佢做嘢好开心。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ paat¹ zyu⁶ keoi⁵ zou⁶ je⁵ hou² hoi¹ sam¹. [Jyutping]

   I have great pleasure in partnering with him in work.

   • 2019 October 18, “你願意原諒謝安琪們嗎？”, in Stand News‎, archived from the original on 2019-10-19:

     Part咗麥浚龍，就冇聽過佢為香港人講過一句說話！ [Cantonese, trad.]
     Part咗麦浚龙，就冇听过佢为香港人讲过一句说话！ [Cantonese, simp.]

     paat¹ zo² mak⁶ zeon³ lung⁴, zau⁶ mou⁵ teng¹ gwo³ keoi⁵ wai⁶ hoeng¹ gong² jan⁴ gong² gwo³ jat¹ geoi³ syut³ waa⁶! [Jyutping]

     Since partnering with Juno Mak, there has been nothing out of her [Kay Tse] mouth in support for the Hong Kongers!

   • 2023 February 3, “新四十二章｜甘草演員個個身懷絕技搶鏡過主角 莫偉文揸車勁過藤原拓海”, in Sing Tao‎:

     連首度飾演黑幫阿姐的李漫芬，亦獲網民大讚有進步，兼Part住一蚊Joe夠搞笑 [Cantonese, trad.]
     连首度饰演黑帮阿姐的李漫芬，亦获网民大赞有进步，兼Part住一蚊Joe够搞笑 [Cantonese, simp.]

     lin⁴ sau² dou⁶ sik¹ jin² hak¹ bong¹ aa³ ze^2-1 dik¹ lei⁵ maan⁶ fan¹, jik⁶ wok⁶ mong⁵ man⁴ daai⁶ zaan³ jau⁵ zeon³ bou⁶, gim¹ paat¹ zyu⁶ jat¹ man¹ zou¹ gau³ gaau² siu³ [Jyutping]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to partner in doing something

   我唔想同佢part呢首歌。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   ngo⁵ m⁴ soeng² tung⁴ keoi⁵ paat¹ ni¹ sau² go¹. [Jyutping]

   I don't want to partner with him in singing this song.

   • 2018 May 25, “孖趙勁皓進軍飲食界 陳柏宇擴版圖老婆挺肚支持”, in Sing Pao Daily News‎:

     成班partner都part咗幾間舖頭七年左右 [Cantonese, trad.]
     成班partner都part咗几间铺头七年左右 [Cantonese, simp.]

     seng⁴ baan¹ paat¹ naa⁴ dou¹ paat¹ zo² gei² gaan¹ pou³ tau^4-2 cat¹ nin⁴ zo² jau^6-2 [Jyutping]

     Us partners have been partnering in [operating these] shops for around seven years now […]

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

From Arabic بَرْد (bard).

part m

1. cold

• Borg, Alexander (2004) A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 155

Latin pars

• IPA^(key): [ˈpart]
• Rhymes: -art

part m inan

1. part (the melody played or sung by a particular instrument, voice, or group of instruments or voices, within a polyphonic piece)

• part in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• part in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

• IPA^(key): /pɑrt/

• Audio

  (file)

part n (plural parten, diminutive partje n)

1. part

• Negerhollands: part, partie, parti, pati

Onomatopoetic. Cognate to Votic partti. Probably the same root as in parisema (“to thud with pauses”).

part (genitive pardi, partitive parti)

1. duck

part m

1. participle accusative singular of partur

   fyri ein part - partial

• IPA^(key): /paʁ/

• audio

  (file)

From Old French part, from Latin partem, accusative of pars, from Proto-Italic *partis.

part f (plural parts)

1. share

   une grande part ― a large share

2. portion, part, slice

   une grande part de tarte ― a large portion of cake

   pour ma part ― for my part, as far as I'm concerned, as for me

   pour la part de mon ami

   as far as my friend's concerned, as for my friend

3. proportion

   une grande part de quelque chose ― a large proportion of something

   il y a une grande part de fiction dans son récit

   his/her account is highly fictional

• partie

• partage
• partager
• partir
• plupart

Conjugated form of -ir verb partir

part

1. third-person singular present indicative of partir

From Latin partus.

part m (plural parts)

1. newborn

• “part”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Latin pars, partem.

part f (plural parts)

1. part

• partî

From Latin partus.

part m (plural parts)

1. delivery, birth, childbirth

• nassince

Borrowed from Italian, from Latin portus. Compare Italian porto (“port, harbour”).[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɒrt]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: part
• Rhymes: -ɒrt

part (plural partok)

1. shore, coast, bank, beach