Attested since about 1567, from Middle Dutch splitten and/or Middle Low German splitten, both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *splittjan, an intensive form of Proto-West Germanic *splītan, from Proto-Germanic *splītaną (whence Danish splitte, Low German splieten, German spleißen), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley-.

Compare Old English speld, Old High German spaltan, Old Irish sliss, Lithuanian spaliai, Czech půl, Church Slavic расплитати.

• enPR: splĭt, IPA: /splɪt/

split (splits, present participle splitting; simple past and past participle split)

1. (transitive, ergative, of something solid) To divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.

   Synonyms: cleave

   He has split his lip.

   • 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC ↗:

     a huge vessel of exceeding hard marble split asunder by congealed water

2. (intransitive, of something solid, particularly wood) To break along the grain fully or partly along a more or less straight line.
3. (transitive) To share; to divide.

   We split the money among three people.

4. (transitive, intransitive, slang) To leave.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:leave

   Let's split this scene and see if we can find a real party.

5. (intransitive, of a couple) To separate.

   Synonyms: break up, split up

   Did you hear Dick and Jane split? They'll probably get a divorce.

6. (ambitransitive) To (cause to) break up; to throw into discord.

   Accusations of bribery split the party just before the election.

7. (algebra, transitive and intransitive, acts on a polynomial) To factor into linear factors.
8. To be broken; to be dashed to pieces.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:

     The ship splits on the rock.

9. (intransitive) To burst out laughing.
   • 1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:
10. (intransitive, slang, dated) To divulge a secret; to betray confidence; to peach.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC ↗:

      " […] I split, and tell all […] "

11. (sports, especially baseball) For both teams involved in a doubleheader to win one game each and lose another.

    Boston split with Philadelphia in a doubleheader, winning the first game 3-1 before losing 2-0 in the nightcap.

12. (intransitive, politics) To vote for candidates of opposite parties.

• French: fendre, diviser, scinder
• German: spalten
• Italian: fendere, dividere, scindere, spaccare
• Portuguese: partir, dividir, cindir
• Russian: расщепля́ть
• Spanish: partir, dividir, escindir

• French: casser, couper, rompre

• French: diviser, répartir, partager
• German: verteilen, aufteilen
• Italian: spartire, dividere
• Portuguese: dividir, repartir
• Russian: дели́ть
• Spanish: repartir, dividir

• French: se tirer, se casser, s'arracher, se faire la malle, se barrer
• German: abhauen
• Portuguese: cair fora, rachar fora
• Spanish: partir

• French: séparer
• German: trennen
• Italian: separare
• Portuguese: separar-se, terminar
• Russian: разделя́ться
• Spanish: partir, separar

split (not comparable)

1. Divided.

   Republicans appear split on the centerpiece of Mr. Obama's economic recovery plan.

2. (algebra, of a short exact sequence) Having the middle object (group, module, etc.) equal to the direct sum of the others.
3. (of coffee) Comprising half decaffeinated and half caffeinated espresso.
4. (stock exchange, of an order, sale, etc.) Divided so as to be done or executed part at one time or price and part at another time or price.
5. (stock exchange, historical, of quotations) Given in sixteenths rather than eighths.

   10+³⁄₁₆ is a split quotation.

6. (London stock exchange) Designating ordinary stock that has been divided into preferred ordinary and deferred ordinary.

• French: divisé
• German: gespalten
• Spanish: dividido, divididos, dividida, divididas

• Spanish: escindido, escindidos, escindida, escindidas

split (plural splits)

1. A crack or longitudinal fissure.
2. A breach or separation, as in a political party; a division.
3. A piece that is split off, or made thin, by splitting; a splinter; a fragment.
   • 1929, United States Tariff Commission, Agricultural products and provisions, page 1334:

     The kernels split in shelling, known as splits, form a fifth grade of shelled Virginia peanuts.

4. (leather manufacture) One of the sections of a skin made by dividing it into two or more thicknesses.
5. (gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, usually in the phrase "to do the splits") A maneuver of spreading or sliding the feet apart until the legs are flat on the floor 180 degrees apart, either sideways to the body or with one leg in front and one behind, thus lowering the body completely to the floor in an upright position.
6. (bodybuilding) A workout routine as seen by its distribution of muscle groups or the extent and manner they are targeted in a microcycle.

   Hyponym: bro split

7. (baseball, slang) A split-finger fastball.

   He’s got a nasty split.

8. (bowling) A result of a first throw that leaves two or more pins standing with one or more pins between them knocked down.
9. A split shot or split stroke.
10. A dessert or confection resembling a banana split.
11. A unit of measure used for champagne or other spirits: 18.75 centiliters or one quarter of a standard 75-centiliter bottle. Commercially comparable to ¹⁄₂₀ (US) gallon, which is ¹⁄₂ of a fifth.
12. A bottle of wine containing 37.5 centiliters, half the volume of a standard 75-centiliter bottle; a demi.
13. (athletics, speedrunning) The elapsed time at specific intermediate points in a race or speedrun.

    In the 3000 m race, his 800 m split was 1:45.32

14. (construction) A tear resulting from tensile stresses.
15. (gambling) A division of a stake happening when two cards of the kind on which the stake is laid are dealt in the same turn.
16. (music) A recording containing songs by multiple artists; a split single.
17. (systematics) The division of a single taxon into two or more taxa; as opposed to a lump.

• French: fissure
• German: Riss, Spalt
• Portuguese: fenda, fissura
• Russian: щель
• Spanish: fisura

• French: division
• German: Spaltung
• Portuguese: racha
• Russian: раско́л
• Spanish: escisión

• French: fragment, morceau
• Russian: ще́пка
• Spanish: fragmento

• French: grand écart
• German: Spagat
• Italian: spaccata
• Russian: шпагат
• Spanish: split

• French: split, écart

• Russian: сплит

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian Splȉt, from Italian Spalato, from Latin Spalatum, from Ancient Greek Σπάλαθος and Ἀσπάλαθος, from ἀσπάλαθος ("spiny broom"), a common shrub in the area.

• enPR: splĭt, IPA: /splɪt/

1. A port city in Croatia.

• French: Split
• German: Split
• Italian: Spalato
• Portuguese: Split
• Russian: Сплит