portion
UK/ˈpɔːʃən//ˈpoɹʃən/
portion noun: an allocated amount.
Noun
portion (plural portions)
- An allocated amount.
- That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
- One's fate; lot.
- The Lord of that ſeruant […] will appoint him his portion with the vnbeleeuers.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 12:46, columns 2–1
- Man's portion is to die and rise again.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....
- The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
- Father, giue me the portion of goods that falleth to me.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 15:12, column 1
- 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!1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems
- A wife's fortune; a dowry.
- Commend me to her, and to piece her portion / Tender her this.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
- 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.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)
Verb
portion (third-person singular simple present portions, present participle portioning, simple past and past participle portioned)
- To divide into amounts, as for allocation to specific purposes.
- To endow with a portion or inheritance.
- Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest.1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst
portion meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
portion in Hindi
- allocated amount
- हिस्सा hissā
portion in Tamil
- பகுதி, பங்கு
portion in Marathi
- allocated amount
- भाग bhāg, वाटा vāṭā, तुकडा tukḍā
portion in Urdu
- portion, bit, piece, slip, scrap, fragment
- پارہ pāra
- portion, share
- حق haq
- portion
- حصہ hissa, قسمت qismat
More languagesFewer languages
- portion in Bengali
- হিস্যা hisśa, হিস্সা hisśa, ভাগ bhag, অংশ oṅśo
- portion in Malayalam
- പങ്ക് paṅkŭ
- portion in Kannada
- ಹಿಸ್ಸೆ, ಪಸುಗೆ, ಪಂಚುಗೆ, ಪಶಿಗೆ
- portion in Odia
- ଉଦ୍ଧାର uddhāra, ମାତ୍ରା mātrā
- portion in Sanskrit
- अंश aṃśa, भाग bhāga
- portion in Sinhala
- කාණ්ඩය kāṇḍaya
- portion in Arabic
- جُزْء juzʔ
- portion in Persian
- بَخش baxš, جُزء joz'
- portion in Thai
- ส่วน sùuan
- portion in Vietnamese
- phần
- portion in Myanmar
- အပိုင်း a.puing:
Examples of portion in a sentence
- A large portion of domestic meat production comes from animals raised on factory farms.
- I pay a portion of each paycheck into a savings account.
- Last year this portion of the grid consumed more than a thousand megawatt-hours of electricity.
Synonyms of portion
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of portion
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | portions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | portions |
| present participle | portioning |
| past participle | portioned |
| past | portioned |
Origin of portion
English portion From Middle English porcioun, borrowed from Old French porcion, accusative of Latin portiōnem (“a share, part, portion, relation, proportion”), from portiō, akin to pars (“part”); see part. Compare proportion.
Words formed from portion
Words that rhyme with portion
Questions about portion
- What does portion mean?
- Portion means an allocated amount.
- What is portion in Hindi?
- Portion in Hindi is हिस्सा (hissā). See Portion meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is portion?
- Portion can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce portion?
- Portion is pronounced /ˈpoɹʃən/ (US).
- What is the plural of portion?
- The plural of portion is portions.
Words near portion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: portion (page history and authors); portion (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); حصہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); portion (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଉଦ୍ଧାର (Odia) (page history and authors); කාණ්ඩය (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-portion.ogg.
Cite this entry: “portion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/portion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.