Chapter

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃæptə(r)/

Definitions

1. A distinct part of a book or text that usually marks a change in topic or narrative direction
2. A major division within written works that helps organize and segment the content for clarity
3. A labeled division in a book that separates different parts or topics

Etymology: Latin "capitulum" was a diminutive of "caput," meaning "head," so the little head of a text was originally a small heading. Medieval Latin writers used it for the divisions of a book, and it also came to mean a synod or council, since a church assembly was organised around its own articles. The Old French form "chapitre" carried both senses, and Middle English borrowed it as "chapitre" before the word settled into its modern spelling. The word has a close family of relatives in English that took different paths from the same Latin root. "Capital" comes from "caput" through the same stem, and "chapiter," the top part of a column, is a doublet of "chapter" that kept a more architectural sense. Its shared ancestry explains why a book division, a column top, and a chief city can all trace back to a single idea of the head.

Synonyms: section, division, part

Antonyms: whole, entirety