Abschnitt

Abschnitt is a masculine German noun (der Abschnitt; plural Abschnitte). It denotes a distinct part or division of a larger whole, such as a document, a book, a map, or a time sequence. In writing, an Abschnitt is a subdivision that is typically smaller than a chapter but larger than a paragraph; texts are often described as consisting of several Abschnitte. It is commonly used in technical, legal, and academic contexts to refer to a specific portion identified by numbers or headings, e.g., Abschnitt 2 or Abschnitt 3. The term also appears in non-textual contexts, such as a section of a road, a phase in a project, or a period in history.

Etymology: Abschnitt derives from ab- "away" and schneiden "to cut", conveying the idea of a portion cut off from the whole. The word is closely related to English section and to other German terms such as Kapitel (chapter) and Absatz (paragraph), though Abschnitt typically denotes a subdivision that is between paragraph and chapter, depending on the document's conventions.

Examples and usage: In editorial practice, you might see "Der erste Abschnitt erläutert die Grundlagen" or "Siehe Abschnitt 4 des Gesetzes." The phrase Abschnittsüberschrift refers to a section header, Abschnittsnummer to a section number. In mathematics or engineering, "abschnittsweise" (piecewise, by section) is used to describe a function or procedure defined in segments.