Subgroup

How to spell subgroup

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce subgroup

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does subgroup mean?

1. nounA smaller group of people or things that forms part of a larger group.

Subgroup in a sentence

• The researchers divided the patients into a younger subgroup for further study.

• Each subgroup within the committee reported on a different topic.

Where does subgroup come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is a transparent compound built from the Latin prefix sub-, meaning 'under' or 'below', and the noun 'group'. The word 'group' itself came into English in the late 1600s from the French groupe, which in turn was borrowed from the Italian gruppo, a term originally used by artists to describe a cluster of figures arranged together in a painting; that Italian word is thought to trace back to a Germanic root meaning a knot or a lump. The prefix sub- has been productive in English for centuries, supplying countless words such as 'submarine', 'subset', and 'subdivision'. Combining the two gives a straightforward sense: a smaller group that sits within a larger one. The term became especially common in mathematics and the social sciences during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where precise language for nested sets and categories was needed.

How the word is built

• sub- (under, below)
• group (a collection or set)