segment

See also: Segment

English

A line segment.

A geometric segment, lower right.

A display composed of seven segments, the dot doesn't count.

Etymology

From Latin segmentum (“a piece cut off, a strip, segment of the earth, a strip of tinsel”), from secāre (“to cut”).

Pronunciation

noun

• (UK, US) enPR: sĕgʹmənt, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɡ.mənt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

verb

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɛɡˈmɛnt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: sĕgʹmĕnt, sĕg-mĕntʹ, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɡmɛnt/, /sɛɡˈmɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

segment (plural segments)

1. A length of some object.

   a segment of rope

2. One of the parts into which any body naturally separates or is divided; a part divided or cut off; a section; a portion.

   Synonyms: cleft, clove

   a segment of an orange; a segment of a compound or divided leaf

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, […] . Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read.

3. (mathematics) A portion.
   1. A straight path between two points that is the shortest distance between them; a line segment.
   2. (geometry) The part of a circle between its circumference and a chord (usually other than the diameter).
   3. (geometry) The part of a sphere cut off by a plane.
   4. (topology) Any of the pieces that constitute an order tree.
4. (sciences) A portion.
   1. (phonology) A discrete unit of speech: a consonant or a vowel.
   2. (botany) A portion of an organ whose cells are derived from a single cell within the primordium from which the organ developed.
      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 5:

        In Lejeuneaceae vegetative branches normally originate from the basiscopic basal portion of a lateral segment half, as in the Radulaceae, and the associated leaves, therefore, are quite unmodified.

   3. (zoology) One of several parts of an organism, with similar structure, arranged in a chain; such as a vertebra, or a third of an insect's thorax.
5. (broadcasting) A part of a broadcast program, devoted to a topic.

   The news showed a segment on global warming.

   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     In “Treehouse Of Horror” episodes, the rules aren’t just different—they don’t even exist. If writers want Homer to kill Flanders or for a segment to end with a marriage between a woman and a giant ape, they can do so without worrying about continuity or consistency or fans griping that the gang is behaving out of character.

6. (computing) An Ethernet bus.
7. (computing) A region of memory or a fragment of an executable file designated to contain a particular part of a program.
8. (travel) A portion of an itinerary: it may be a flight or train between two cities, or a car or hotel booked in a particular city.

Synonyms

• (part or section of a whole): lith
• (straight path): line segment
• (area of a circle): circular segment

Hyponyms

• bronchopulmonary segment
• circular segment
• image segment
• line segment
• market segment
• memory segment
• muscle segment

Derived terms

• bisegment
• circle segment
• diplosegment
• haplosegment
• hemisegment
• intersegment
• intrasegment
• macrosegment
• microsegment
• midsegment
• monosegment
• multisegment
• oversegment
• parasegment
• prosegment
• resegment
• segmentable
• segmental
• segmentary
• segment descriptor
• segmentectomy
• segment gear
• segmentization
• segmentize
• segmentless
• segment rack
• segment saw
• segment shell
• segment tree
• segmentwise
• seven-segment
• subsegment
• suprasegment
• toxic anterior segment syndrome

Related terms

• seven-segment display

Related terms

• secant
• sect
• section
• sector
• segmentation
• somite

Translations

length of some object

• Bulgarian: отрязък (bg) m (otrjazǎk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 片斷 / 片断 (zh) (piànduàn), 段 (zh) (duàn)

• Dutch: segment (nl)
• Esperanto: segmento
• Finnish: pätkä (fi)
• French: segment (fr) m
• German: Segment (de) n
• Greek: τμήμα (el) n (tmíma)
• Hungarian: szakasz (hu), szegmens (hu), szegmentum (hu), szelet (hu), metszet (hu), részlet (hu), rész (hu)
• Irish: deighleog f
• Italian: segmento (it)
• Japanese: 切片 (ja) (せっぺん, seppen)
• Kyrgyz: кесинди (ky) (kesindi)
• Latin: segmentum n
• Portuguese: segmento (pt) m
• Romanian: segment (ro) n
• Russian: отре́зок (ru) m (otrézok), сегме́нт (ru) m (segmént)
• Spanish: segmento (es) m
• Tagalog: putol
• Ukrainian: відрі́зок (uk) m (vidrízok), сегме́нт m (sehmént)

one of the parts into which any body naturally separates or is divided; a part divided or cut off

• Bulgarian: дял (bg) m (djal)
• Finnish: lohko (fi) (orange etc.); lehdykkä (fi) (leaf); jaoke (fi) (e.g. milliped); segmentti (fi) (part cut off)
• Hawaiian: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: szelvény (hu), cikk (hu), gerezd (hu)
• Malay: ulas (of citruses etc)

math: portion

• Bulgarian: сегмент (bg) m (segment)
• Esperanto: segmento
• Finnish: osa (fi), lohko (fi), pätkä (fi), segmentti (fi)
• French: quartier (fr) m
• Greek: τμήμα (el) n (tmíma), τεμάχιο (el) n (temáchio)

  Ancient: ἔκτμημα n (éktmēma)

• Latin: segmentum n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: segment n

  Nynorsk: segment n

• Polish: człon (pl) m, segment (pl) m
• Portuguese: secção (pt) f
• Tagalog: hiwa

line segment — see line segment

circular segment — see circular segment

geometry: part of a sphere cut off by a plane

• Bulgarian: сегмент (bg) m (segment)
• Finnish: pallosegmentti (fi)

topology: piece of an order tree

• Finnish: segmentti (fi)

phonology: consonant or a vowel

• Finnish: äänne (fi)
• Hungarian: beszédhang (hu), szegmentum (hu), hangtag

botany: portion of an organ derived from a single cell within the primordium

• Finnish: jaoke (fi)

zoology: one of several parts of an organism, with similar structure, arranged in a chain

• Finnish: jaoke (fi)

broadcasting: part of a program devoted to a topic

• Finnish: osio (fi), osuus (fi)

computing: Ethernet bus

• Finnish: ethernet-väylä

computing: region of memory or a fragment of an executable file designated to contain a particular part of a program

• Finnish: segmentti (fi)

travel: portion of an itinerary

• Finnish: osuus (fi)

Verb

segment (third-person singular simple present segments, present participle segmenting, simple past and past participle segmented)

1. (ambitransitive) To divide into segments or sections.

   Segment the essay by topic.

Hyponyms

• supreme

Derived terms

• self-segment

Translations

to divide into segments or sections

• Bulgarian: сегментирам (segmentiram)
• Finnish: jakaa osiin, jaotella (fi), segmentoida, jakaa segmentteihin
• French: segmenter (fr)
• German: segmentieren (de)
• Greek: διατέμνω (el) (diatémno)
• Hungarian: feloszt (hu), felbont (hu), szegmentál (hu), részekre oszt/bont/tagol
• Portuguese: segmentar (pt)
• Romanian: segmenta (ro)
• Russian: разделя́ть (ru) (razdeljátʹ), дели́ть (ru) (delítʹ), сегментировать (ru) (segmentirovatʹ)
• Spanish: segmentar (es)
• Swedish: segmentera (sv)

Further reading

• “segment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “segment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin segmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [səɡˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [səɡˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [seɡˈment]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

segment m (plural segments)

1. segment

Derived terms

• segmentar

Further reading

• “segment”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “segment”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “segment” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “segment” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Latin segmentum (“cutting”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”)

Noun

segment

1. segment

Declension

Declension of segment

nominative	segment
genitive	segmentniñ
dative	segmentke
accusative	segmentni
locative	segmentte
ablative	segmentten

References

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French segment, from Latin segmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛxˈmɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: seg‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

segment n (plural segmenten, diminutive segmentje n)

1. a segment

Derived terms

• bolsegment
• cirkelsegment
• lijnsegment
• segmentaal
• segmentboog
• segmentrand

Related terms

• sectie
• segmentatie
• segmenteren

Descendants

• Afrikaans: segment
• → West Frisian: segmint

French

Etymology

From Latin segmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛɡ.mɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

segment m (plural segments)

1. segment (all senses)

Descendants

• → Dutch: segment
  • Afrikaans: segment
  • → West Frisian: segmint
• → Romanian: segment
• → Turkish: segment

Further reading

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin segmentum.

Noun

segment n (definite singular segmentet, indefinite plural segment or segmenter, definite plural segmenta or segmentene)

1. a segment

References

• “segment” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “segment” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin segmentum.

Noun

segment n (definite singular segmentet, indefinite plural segment, definite plural segmenta)

1. a segment

References

• “segment” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French segment, from Latin segmentum.

Noun

segment n (plural segmente)

1. segment

Declension

Declension of segment

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	segment	segmentul		segmente	segmentele
genitive-dative	segment	segmentului		segmente	segmentelor
vocative	segmentule			segmentelor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sěɡment/
• Hyphenation: seg‧ment

Noun

sègment m (Cyrillic spelling сѐгмент)

1. segment

Declension

Declension of segment

	singular	plural
nominative	sègment	segmenti
genitive	segmenta	sègmenātā
dative	segmentu	segmentima
accusative	segment	segmente
vocative	segmente	segmenti
locative	segmentu	segmentima
instrumental	segmentom	segmentima

Slovak

Etymology

Derived from Latin segmentum (“cutting”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈseɡment]
• Hyphenation: seg‧ment

Noun

segment m inan (relational adjective segmentový or segmentálny)

1. segment

Declension

Declension of segment
(pattern dub)

	singular	plural
nominative	segment	segmenty
genitive	segmentu	segmentov
dative	segmentu	segmentom
accusative	segment	segmenty
locative	segmente	segmentoch
instrumental	segmentom	segmentmi

Further reading

• “segment”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025