bisect

English

Etymology

bi- (“bi-, two”) +‎ Latin secāre (“to cut”)

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: bī-sĕkt', IPA^(key): /baɪˈsɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Verb

bisect (third-person singular simple present bisects, present participle bisecting, simple past and past participle bisected)

1. (transitive) To cut or divide into two parts.
   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 7, page 84:

     The quadrennial period of games and festivals in Greece was probably arrived at by bisecting an older octennial period.

   1. (transitive, geometry) To divide an angle, line segment, or other figure into two equal parts.
   2. (computing) To perform a binary search on files in source control in order to identify the specific change that introduced a bug etc.

Synonyms

• (to divide into two parts): dichotomize, dimidiate; see also Thesaurus:bisect

Translations

to cut or divide into two parts

• Bulgarian: разполовявам (bg) (razpolovjavam)
• Finnish: puolittaa (fi), halkaista kahtia
• German: halbieren (de)
• Hungarian: félbevág (hu), elfelez (hu)
• Ido: bisekar (io)
• Russian: разделать пополам (razdelatʹ popolam)
• Swedish: halvera (sv), dela i tu

geometry: to divide an angle, line segment or other figure into two equal parts

• Finnish: puolittaa (fi)
• Hungarian: felez (hu), megfelez (hu)
• Ido: bisekar (io)
• Inuktitut: ᑎᕆᖅᑯᓕᐅᕐᓂᖅ (tiriqkoliorniq)
• Italian: bisecare (it)

Noun

bisect (plural bisects)

1. (geometry) A bisector, which divides into two equal parts.
2. (philately) An envelope, card, or fragment thereof showing an affixed cut half of a regular issued stamp, over which one or more postal markings have been applied. Typically used in wartime when normal lower rate stamps may not be available.

Translations

geometry: a bisector

• Finnish: puolittaja

philately: an envelope or card

See also

• dissect
• vivisect

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bissexte, from Latin bisextus.

Adjective

bisect m or n (feminine singular bisectă, masculine plural bisecți, feminine and neuter plural bisecte)

1. bissextil

Declension

Declension of bisect

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	bisect		bisectă	bisecți	bisecte
	definite	bisectul		bisecta	bisecții	bisectele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	bisect		bisecte	bisecți	bisecte
	definite	bisectului		bisectei	bisecților	bisectelor