# partition
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (US) enPR: pärtĭ'shən, IPA: /pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃən/, /pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃɪn/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪʃən

### Noun

partition (countable and uncountable, plural partitions)
* An action which divides a thing into parts, or separates one thing from another.
    the partitions of Poland
** c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:And good from bad find no partition.
* A part of something that has been divided.
    the Russian Partition
* (mathematics) An approach to division in which one asks what the size of each part is, rather than (as in quotition) how many parts there are.
* The division of a territory into two or more autonomous ones.
    Monarchies where partition isn't prohibited risk weakening through parcellation and civil wars between the heirs.
* A vertical structure that divides a room.
    a brick partition; lath and plaster partitions
* That which divides or separates; that by which different things, or distinct parts of the same thing, are separated; boundary; dividing line or space.
** 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:No sight could pass / Betwixt the nice partitions of the grass.
* A part divided off by walls; an apartment; a compartment.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Lodged in a small partition.
* (law) The severance of common or undivided interests, particularly in real estate. It may be effected by consent of parties, or by compulsion of law.
* (computing) A section of a hard disk separately formatted.
    Hyponyms: extended partition, primary partition, swap partition
** 2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Terminal Three (Legendary):The epicenter of the disturbance is the partition currently housing a [personality construct array] retrieved from Contender AI 05-032 <+> 0816.
* (databases) A division of a database or one of its constituting elements such as tables into separate independent parts.
* (computing) A division of a data stream, such as a messaging queue or topic (often representing a unit of parallelism, and of fault tolerance).
* (set theory) A collection of non-empty, disjoint subsets of a set whose union is the set itself (i.e. all elements of the set are contained in exactly one of the subsets).
* (music) A musical score.

#### Usage notes

* (set theory): The elements of the collection are sometimes called the blocks or parts of the partition.

#### Synonyms

* dismemberment

#### Derived terms

* copartition
* equipartition
* Goldbach partition
* Markov partition
* partition coefficient
* partition function
* partition of unity
* Stirling partition number

#### Related terms

* partite

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

partition (third-person singular simple present partitions, present participle partitioning, simple past and past participle partitioned) (transitive)
* To divide something into parts, sections or shares.
    to partition a hard drive
* To divide a region or country into two or more territories with separate political status.
    Poland was progressively partitioned by Russia, Austria, and Prussia in the late 18th century.
* To separate or divide a room by a partition (ex. a wall), often use with off.

#### Synonyms

* dismember

#### Derived terms

* partitioner
* partitionist

#### Related terms

* partner

#### Translations
## Finnish
### Noun

partition
* genitive singular of partitio

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Old French particion, from Latin partītiōnem. By surface analysis, partir +‎ -tion.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

partition f (plural partitions)
* (heraldry) a (geometrical) division using two colors
* (music) a score, often comprising all parts
* (databases, computing) partition

#### Derived terms

* partitionner
* partitionnement
* partitionniste

#### Descendants

* → Turkish: partisyon

### Further reading

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