different between portion vs plot

English

Etymology

From Middle English porcioun, borrowed from Old French porcion, from Latin portio (“a share, part, portion, relation, proportion”), akin to pars (“part”); see part. Compare proportion.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p????n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p????n/
• (Scotland, Ireland, other varieties without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?po????n/, /?po????n/, /?po???n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)??n

Noun

portion (plural portions)

1. An allocated amount.
2. That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
3. One's fate; lot.
   • Man's portion is to die and rise again.

4. The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
5. A wife's fortune; a dowry.
   • 1613, William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, V. iv. 31:

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

Usage notes

Relatively formal, compared to the more informal part or more concrete and casual piece. For example, “part of the money” (both informal) but “portion of the proceeds” (both formal).

Synonyms

• part
• piece

Derived terms

• portionless
• proportion
• underportion

Translations

Verb

portion (third-person singular simple present portions, present participle portioning, simple past and past participle portioned)

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

     Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest.

Translations

Usage notes

• Particularly used as portion out.
• Relatively formal, compared to the more informal divide, divide up, or the casual divvy, divvy up.

Synonyms

• apportion
• divide, divide up
• divvy, divvy up

Derived terms

• portion off
• portion out

Further reading

• portion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• portion in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin portionem (accusative singular of portio).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.sj??/

Noun

portion f (plural portions)

1. portion

Descendants

• ? Turkish: porsiyon

Further reading

• “portion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• potiron

Interlingua

Noun

portion (plural portiones)

1. portion

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

portion c

1. serving, an helping of food

Declension

Related terms

• portionera

English

Etymology

From Middle English plot, plotte, from Old English plot (“a plot of ground”), from Proto-Germanic *plataz, *platjaz (“a patch”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Middle Low German plet (“patch, strip of cloth, rags”), German Bletz (“rags, bits, strip of land”), Gothic ???????????????????? (plats, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of the "secret plan" sense.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pl?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

plot (plural plots)

1. (authorship) The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. [from 1640s]

   Synonym: storyline

   • c. 1725, Alexander Pope, View of the Epic Poem

2. An area or land used for building on or planting on. [from 1550s]

   Synonym: parcel

3. A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
4. A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable. [from 1580s]

   Synonyms: conspiracy, scheme

5. Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
   • a. 1669, John Denham, On Mr Thomas Killigrew's Return from Venice, and Mr William Murrey's from Scotland

6. Participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
7. A plan; a purpose.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

plot (third-person singular simple present plots, present participle plotting, simple past and past participle plotted)

1. (transitive) To conceive (a crime, etc).

2. (transitive) To trace out (a graph or diagram).

3. (transitive) To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
   • 1602, Richard Carew, Survey on Cornwall

4. (intransitive) To conceive a crime, misdeed, etc.

Synonyms

• (contrive): becast
• (conceive a crime, etc): scheme
• (an area of land): lot

Derived terms

• replot

Translations

Anagrams

• OLTP, PTOL, lopt, polt

Albanian

Etymology

From plotë.

Adverb

plot

1. full, fully, full of

Czech

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *plot?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?plot]

Noun

plot m

1. fence

Declension

Derived terms

• živý plot m

Related terms

• oplotit

Further reading

• plot in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• plot in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t

Verb

plot

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of plotten
2. imperative of plotten

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plo/
• Rhymes: -o

Noun

plot m (plural plots)

1. traffic cone
2. cone used in slalom

Luxembourgish

Verb

plot

1. third-person singular present indicative of ploen
2. second-person plural present indicative of ploen
3. second-person plural imperative of ploen

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?t/

Noun

plot f

1. genitive plural of plota

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *plot?.

Noun

pl?t m (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. fence

Declension

Spanish

Noun

plot m (plural plots)

1. (story-telling) plot