compartment

English

Etymology

First attested 1564, from Middle French compartiment, from Italian compartimento, from Late Latin compartiri (“to divide with, to share with”), from com- + partiri (“to apportion, to divide, to share”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɑɹtmənt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɑːtmənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧part‧ment

Noun

compartment (plural compartments)

1. A room, or section, or chamber

   Two men were seated in a well-lit compartment of a third-class railway carriage.

2. One of the parts into which an area is subdivided.
3. (biochemistry) Part of a protein that serves a specific function.
4. (heraldry) A mound (often of grass) beneath the shield in a coat of arms on which the supporters stand.
5. (anatomy) A region in the body, delimited by a biological membrane.

Derived terms

• engine compartment

Translations

chamber

• Arabic: مَقْصُورَة‎ f (maqṣūra)
• Belarusian: аддзяле́нне n (addzjaljénnje) (train), адсе́к m (adsjék), купэ́ n (kupé) (train)
• Bulgarian: купе n (kupe), отделение (bg) n (otdelenie)
• Catalan: compartiment (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 車廂 (zh), 车厢 (zh) (chēxiāng), 包房 (zh) (bāofáng)

• Czech: oddělení (cs) n, (on a train) kupé (cs) n
• Dutch: ruimte (nl) f
• Esperanto: kompartimento
• Finnish: osasto (fi), aitio (fi), loosi (fi), kammio (fi)
• French: compartiment (fr) m
• Galician: compartimento (gl) m
• Georgian: განყოფილება (ganq̇opileba)

• German: Abteil (de) n
• Hindi: डिब्बा (hi) m (ḍibbā)
• Hungarian: fülke (hu)
• Japanese: 仕切り (しきり, shikiri), 区画 (ja) (くかく, kukaku)
• Korean: 컴파트먼트 (keompateumeonteu)
• Norwegian: kupé (no) m
• Persian: کوپه‎ (fa) (kupe)
• Polish: przedział (pl) m
• Portuguese: compartimento (pt) m
• Romanian: compartiment (ro) n
• Russian: отделе́ние (ru) n (otdelénije), отсе́к (ru) m (otsék), купе́ (ru) n (kupé) (train)
• Spanish: compartimiento (es) m
• Swedish: avdelning (sv) c, kupé (sv) c
• Turkish: kompartıman (tr)
• Ukrainian: відді́лення n (viddílennja), відсі́к m (vidsík), купе́ n (kupé) (train)

part into which an area is subdivided

• Afrikaans: kompartement, kompartemente pl
• Bulgarian: отделение (bg) n (otdelenie)
• Catalan: compartiment (ca) m
• Esperanto: fako (eo)
• Finnish: osa-alue (fi)
• French: compartiment (fr) m

• Galician: compartimento (gl) m
• Irish: urrann f
• Romanian: compartiment (ro) n, compartimente n pl
• Russian: отделе́ние (ru) n (otdelénije), отсе́к (ru) m (otsék)
• Spanish: compartimiento (es) m
• Swedish: fack (sv) n

biochemistry: part of a protein

• Finnish: jakso (fi)

heraldry: mound beneath the shield

• Dutch: ondergrond (nl)
• Finnish: postamentti
• French: terrasse (fr)
• German: Postament (de)

• Italian: terrazza (it), zoccolo (it)
• Polish: postument (pl)
• Spanish: terraza (es)

Verb

compartment (third-person singular simple present compartments, present participle compartmenting, simple past and past participle compartmented)

1. (transitive) To arrange in separate compartments.