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

Compare Middle English ysplett (“split”, past participle of splatten (“to split”)), Old English speld (“splinter”), Old High German spaltan (“to split”), Middle Irish slis (“splinter”), Lithuanian spaliai (“flax sheaves”), Czech půl (“half”), Old Church Slavonic рас-плитати (ras-plitati, “to cleave, split”).

• enPR: splĭt, IPA^(key): /splɪt/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -ɪt

split (third-person singular simple present 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.

   Synonym: 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 […], 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

   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 September 2013:

     The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom. This system splits water molecules and delivers some of their electrons to other molecules that help build up carbohydrates.

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.

   • 2019 October, “Funding for 20tph East London Line service”, in Modern Railways, page 18:

     Presently the 57-strong Class 378 fleet is split between the East London line and North London line, with 29 units allocated on the east side.

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:leave

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

   • 1979, Machine, “There but For the Grace of God Go I”, in Machine:

     Carlo and Carmen Vidal / just had a child / A lovely girl with a crooked smile / Now they gotta split 'cause the Bronx ain't fit / For a kid to grow up in

   • 1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Leon (Bill Duke):

     I had this Palm Springs gig set up for Joey and the bitch split. Least he ain't nowhere around.

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.
   • 2007, John M. Howie, Fields and Galois Theory, Springer, page 103:

     In the first case , the minimum polynomial of , splits completely over ; in the second case we see that , the minimum polynomial of , does not split completely over .

   1. (generally, of an algebraic structure) To be expressable as a direct sum of sub-modules, -algebras, etc.
   2. (of an object which expresses the relationship between algebraic structures, particularly a short exact sequence) To contain an object which may be so expressed.
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.

split (not comparable)

1. Divided.

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

   • 2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 11 October 2026:

     With the descent of the cold war, relations between the two countries (for this is, to all intents and purposes, what they became after the end of the war) were almost completely broken off, with whole families split for the ensuing decades, some for ever.

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.

split (plural splits)

1. A crack or longitudinal fissure.
2. A breach or separation, as in a political party; a division.
   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 179:

     It destroys the class system and exploitation; it heals the split in man's nature and the crippled, one-sided development of the individual.

3. The termination of a romantic relationship.

   Synonyms: breakup; divorce

   • 2017 July 5, Katrina Clarke, “Divorce selfies, conscious uncoupling and the rise of the amicable divorce”, in CBC News‎^[3], archived from the original on 4 December 2023:

     Sayani said she thinks today's separated couples are willing to take risks and are more open to learning through seeing a counsellor or parenting experts if it means avoiding a nasty divorce. She also believes people are motivated to strive for an amicable split because of friends' divorce horror stories.

4. 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.

5. (leather manufacture) One of the sections of a skin made by dividing it into two or more thicknesses.
7. (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.
9. (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

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

    He’s got a nasty split.

11. (bowling) A result of a first throw that leaves two or more pins standing with one or more pins between them knocked down.
12. A split shot or split stroke.
13. A dessert or confection resembling a banana split.
14. 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.
15. A bottle of wine containing 37.5 centiliters, half the volume of a standard 75-centiliter bottle; a demi.
17. (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

18. (construction) A tear resulting from tensile stresses.
19. (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.
20. (music) A recording containing songs by multiple artists; a split single or split album.
21. (systematics) The division of a single taxon into two or more taxa; as opposed to a lump.
    • 2017 June, Australian Birdlife, Carlton, Victoria, page 76, column 1:

      [I]t would be a rare split in that it would be unlikely to result in an armchair tick for any birders, living or dead.

• → Irish: spliota

• slipt, spilt, stilp

split

1. imperative of splitte

• IPA^(key): /splɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: split
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Related to splijten (“to split, cleave”).

split n (plural splitten, diminutive splitje n)

1. (generally) split, crack, fissure
2. crushed stone

split f or n (plural splitten, diminutive splitje n)

1. (fashion) slit in a piece of clothing, such as in a skirt or dress

split f (plural splitten, diminutive splitje n)

1. (gymnastics) split (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)

   Coordinate term: spagaat

2. (chiefly in the diminutive) drink consisting of whiskey mixed with sparkling water

split m (plural splitten, diminutive splitje n)

1. (bowling) split (result of a first throw that leaves two or more pins standing with one or more pins between them knocked down)
2. (athletics) split (elapsed time at specific intermediate points in a race or speedrun)

• → Indonesian: split

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

split

1. inflection of splitten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

Unadapted borrowing from Dutch split.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsplit/, [ˈsplɪt̪̚]

split (plural split-split)

1. (construction) stone chipping

Unadapted borrowing from English splits.

• IPA^(key): /esˈplit/ [esˈplit̪]
• Rhymes: -it

split m (uncountable)

1. splits

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “split”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

From Old Swedish split, borrowed from Middle Low German spliten (“to split”). First attested in 1533.

• IPA^(key): /spliːt/

split n

1. discord, strife, dissension

   Det blir avunden och splitet, som blir Sveriges fördärv.

   It is the envy and the strife, that will be Sweden's demise.

   • 2016, Lars Lönnroth, transl., Den poetiska Eddan, Atlantis, →ISBN, Lokes smädelser (Lokasenna) §3, page 153:

     Ofärd och split / bringar jag asarna / malört blandar jag i mjödet.

     Misfortune and discord / I bring to the Æsir / wormwood I put in their mead.

• så split

Borrowed from English split. First attested in 1974.

• IPA^(key): /splɪtː/

split c

1. a split (of shares in a company)
2. a side split, a straddle split (in gymnastics)

• aktiesplit
• spagat
• splits
• splitt

• “split”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• split in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

• pilts