Etymology

department

de·part·ment
D2E1P3A1R1T1M3E1N1T1

Today it means: A part, portion, or subdivision. Full definition →

Middle English departement ← Middle French département ← French département
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromdépartement
  2. Middle French · derived fromdépartement
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdepartement“ceasing, end”
  4. English todaydepartment

From Middle English departement (“ceasing, end”), from Middle French département. Later senses borrowed from Modern French département. Doublet of département.

Words from the same roots

Frenchdépartement all →

département

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.