department
de·part·ment/dɪˈpɑɹtmənt/noun
department is spelled D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T, 3 syllables: de·part·ment. The wrong spelling people search most is deparment: about 100 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 85 of all searches for the word. Department is a noun meaning “A part, portion, or subdivision”. The plural of department is departments.
How many letters and syllables are in department?
| Letters | 10: D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: de·part·ment |
| In writing | 170 times per million words; the 591st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, deparment, about 100 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell department?
Department is spelled D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 85 of the searches for department in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is department?
Department appears 170 times per million words in written English, the 591st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce department?
- UK /dɪˈpɑːtm(ə)nt/
- US /dɪˈpɑɹtmənt/
- Australia /dɪˈpɐːtm(ə)nt/
Department has 3 syllables, split de·part·ment in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-department.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with department?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as department from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹtmənt/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of department
- departments plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does department mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A part, portion, or subdivision.
- 2
A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.
Technical things are not his department; he's a people person.
- 3
A specified aspect or quality.
The 2012 Boston Marathon was outstanding in the temperature department; runners endured temperatures of no less than 88 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 4
One of the principal divisions of executive government
the Treasury Department; the Department of Agriculture; police department
- 5
One of the divisions of instructions
the physics department; the history department; the math department
- 6
A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts into which the country is divided for governmental purposes, similar to a county in the UK and in the USA. France is composed of 101 départements organized in 18 régions, each department is divided into arrondissements, in turn divided into cantons.
- 7
A military subdivision of a country
the Department of the Potomac
- 8
obsoleteAct of departing; departure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate department?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of department: Dep't, dep, dep., dept..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Department in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | departamento , setor |
| French | ministère , département |
| German | Abteilung, Institut, Lehrstuhl |
| Spanish | departamento |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does department come from?
From Middle English departement (“ceasing, end”), from Middle French département. Later senses borrowed from Modern French département. Doublet of département.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).