Etymograph

English

apartment

Apartment comes from French appartement, from Italian appartamento, from Spanish apartamiento ‘separation, seclusion’, from apartar ‘to separate’.

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentapartar1‘to separate’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentapartamiento2‘separation’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentappartamento2‘apartment’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentappartement2‘apartment’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1726apartment2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Spanish apartamiento
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English apartment
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1726, Jonathan Swift, Described: “By this contrivance I got into the inmost court;…”.

Lineage

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentapartarWiktionary, Spanish apartamiento‘to separate’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentapartamientoWiktionary, English apartment‘separation’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentappartamentoWiktionary, English apartment‘apartment’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentappartementWiktionary, English apartment‘apartment’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1726apartmentWiktionary, English apartment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1726, Jonathan Swift, Described: “By this contrivance I got into the inmost court;…”

Every English word from Spanish apartar

Today it means

noun A complete domicile occupying only part of a building, especially one for rent; a flat.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “apartment”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Spanish apartamiento. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Spanish apartar / apartment

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