Compartment

How to spell compartment

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce compartment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does compartment mean?

1. nounA separate section or enclosed division within a larger space or container.

Compartment in a sentence

• She stored her passport in the hidden compartment of her bag.

• The train carriage had a quiet compartment reserved for families.

Where does compartment come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the early 1600s from the French compartiment, which itself was borrowed from the Italian compartimento. The Italian noun derived from the verb compartire, meaning 'to share out' or 'to divide into parts', built from the Latin com- (an intensifying prefix meaning 'together' or 'thoroughly') and partire 'to divide', from pars 'a part or portion'. The original sense referred to a neat, deliberate division of a space into separate sections, as in the panelled compartments of a decorated ceiling or wall. From that decorative beginning the meaning broadened to any enclosed subdivision of a larger whole, such as a railway carriage or a box with internal dividers. The visible 'part' sitting in the middle of the word is the clue to its spelling, a reminder that a compartment is literally something parted off within a larger space.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• part (division, share)
• -ment (noun suffix denoting result or thing)