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How to spell department

Department is spelled D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T. Depart plus -MENT: the T of depart sits right before the M.

hear itde·part·ment/dɪ'pɑrtmənt/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: A section of a store that sells a specific kind of item.

In a sentence: The toy department is full of fun things to play with.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: depart, departure, departmental, apartment, division. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Department” comes from French départir, meaning “to divide or share out,” plus the noun-forming suffix -ment. Over time, its meaning shifted from a general “division” to a specific section within a government, business, or school.

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