afdeling

Afdeling is a Dutch noun meaning division or department. It is used in the Netherlands and in Afrikaans to denote a subunit within a larger organization or administrative unit. The term comes from Middle Dutch afdeling, from af- meaning off or away and delen meaning to divide, and it is cognate with similar terms in other Germanic languages. In contemporary Dutch and Afrikaans, afdeling can refer to a department within a ministry, company, school, or museum, for example de afdeling Financiën (the finance department) or die afdelingskantoor (the department office).

Historically, in Dutch colonial administration, the term was used to designate a territorial subdivision within a larger province or governance structure. The exact hierarchy varied across time and territory, but the sense remained that of a defined subunit with specific responsibilities.

In modern usage, the word also appears in compound terms that describe functional units or sections, such as een verkoopafdeling (a sales department) or een afdelingssectie inside an organization. In Afrikaans, afdeling is the standard word for department or division and is common in business, government, and education contexts.

Translations into English depend on context, typically department, division, or section. The term mirrors similar concepts in many languages and plays a central role in organizational and administrative vocabulary.