Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#PORTIONCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#PORTION porcioun, borrowed from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#PORTION porcion, accusative of LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#PORTION portiōnem (“a share, part, portion, relation, proportion”), from portiō, akin to pars (“part”); see part. Compare proportion.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpoɹʃən/Category:English 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#PORTION
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːʃən/Category:English 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION
• (Standard Southern British, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːʃən/Category:English 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION
• (Scotland, Ireland, other varieties without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpoəɹʃən/, /ˈpoːɹʃən/, /ˈpoɹʃən/Category:English 3-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /poː(r).ʃən/ (without the horse–hoarse merger)Category:English 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION
  • (non-rhotic) Homophone: potionCategory:English terms with homophones#PORTION
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ʃənCategory:Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)ʃən#PORTIONCategory:Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)ʃən/2 syllables#PORTION

Noun

portion (plural portions)Category:English lemmas#PORTIONCategory:English nouns#PORTIONCategory:English countable nouns#PORTIONCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#PORTIONCategory:Pages with entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with 5 entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with tab characters#PORTION

1. An allocated amount.
3. That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.

   Synonyms: part, piece; see also Thesaurus:piece

4. One's fate; lot.

   Synonyms: doom, fortune; see also Thesaurus:fate

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 12:46, columns 2–1:

     The Lord of that ſeruant […] will appoint him his portion with the vnbeleeuers.

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

   • 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:

     Man's portion is to die and rise again.

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 146:

     "Everywhere the same!" exclaimed Francesca, as she resumed her seat—"the same human misery—the same human portion!...

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

5. The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 15:12, column 1:

     Father, giue me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

   • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

     O! yearning heart! I did inherit
     Thy withering portion with the fame,
     The searing glory which hath shone
     Amid the jewels of my throne,
     Halo of Hell!

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

6. A wife's fortune; a dowry.
   • 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson;  […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv, page 85:

     Commend me to her, and to piece her portion / Tender her this.

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):

     I took part of a small house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom I received four hundred pounds for a portion.

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

Verb

portion (third-person singular simple present portions, present participle portioning, simple past and past participle portioned)Category:English lemmas#PORTIONCategory:English verbs#PORTIONCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#PORTIONCategory:Pages with entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with 5 entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with tab characters#PORTION

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#PORTION) To divide into amounts, as for allocation to specific purposes.
2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#PORTION) To endow with a portion or inheritance.
   • 1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst:

     Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest.

     Category:English terms with quotations#PORTION

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Further reading

• “portion”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “portion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:French terms borrowed from Latin#PORTIONCategory:French terms derived from Latin#PORTION portionem (accusative singular of portio).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.sjɔ̃/Category:French 2-syllable words#PORTIONCategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#PORTION

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#PORTION

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#PORTION

Noun

portion f (plural portions)Category:French lemmas#PORTIONCategory:French nouns#PORTIONCategory:French countable nouns#PORTIONCategory:French entries with incorrect language header#PORTIONCategory:French feminine nouns#PORTIONCategory:Pages with entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with 5 entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with tab characters#PORTION

1. portion

Further reading

• “portion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• potiron

Noun

portion (plural portiones)Category:Interlingua lemmas#PORTIONCategory:Interlingua nouns#PORTIONCategory:Interlingua entries with incorrect language header#PORTIONCategory:Pages with entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with 5 entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with tab characters#PORTION

1. portion

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Swedish terms with audio pronunciation#PORTION

Noun

portion cCategory:Swedish lemmas#PORTIONCategory:Swedish nouns#PORTIONCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#PORTIONCategory:Swedish common-gender nouns#PORTIONCategory:Pages with entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with 5 entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with tab characters#PORTION

1. a portion (of food (usually) or something else that is portioned)

   en portion snus

   a portion of snus

   Category:Swedish terms with usage examples#PORTION

   1. a serving, a helping, a bowl, etc. (of food)

      Jag åt en portion gröt till frukost

      I had a bowl of porridge for breakfast

      Category:Swedish terms with usage examples#PORTION

2. (figuratively) a portion (portioned amount of something abstract)

   lära ut materialet i små portioner

   teach the material in bite-sized [small] portions [sounds more figurative in Swedish]

   Category:Swedish terms with usage examples#PORTION

3. (figuratively) an amount (of something); a deal, etc.

   Boken skildrar perioden med en stor portion humor

   The book depicts the period with a great deal of humor

   (literally, “The book depicts the period with a big portion of humor”)

   Category:Swedish terms with usage examples#PORTION

   Med en portion tur kan de nog ta sig vidare till kvartsfinal

   With a bit of luck, they can probably make it to the quarterfinals

   Category:Swedish terms with usage examples#PORTION

References

• “portion”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “portion”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “portion”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:Yola terms inherited from Middle English#PORTIONCategory:Yola terms derived from Middle English#PORTION porcioun, from Old FrenchCategory:Yola terms derived from Old French#PORTION porcion, from LatinCategory:Yola terms derived from Latin#PORTION portio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔrʃən/Category:Yola terms with IPA pronunciation#PORTION

Noun

portionCategory:Yola lemmas#PORTIONCategory:Yola nouns#PORTIONCategory:Yola entries with incorrect language header#PORTIONCategory:Pages with entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with 5 entries#PORTIONCategory:Pages with tab characters#PORTION

1. part
   • 1867, “THE BRIDE'S PORTION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 102:

     A portion ich gae her, was (it's now ich have ee-tolth)

     The portion I gave her was (it's now I have told)

     Category:Yola terms with quotations#PORTION

2. dowry
   • 2005, Jacob Poole Of Growtown - And the Yola Dialect‎:

     A portion ich gae her was keow an dwanty shilleen.
     The dowry I gave her was a cow and twenty shillings.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     Category:Yola terms with quotations#PORTIONCategory:Requests for translations of Yola quotations#PORTION

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 102