Definition

Splitting is to divide from end to end or along the grain by or as if by a sharp blow.

Above: Splitting of a banana (Musa sp.) pseudostem infected with a bacterial soft rot pathogen, Erwinia sp.

Etymology. 1590, from M.Du. splitten, from P.Gmc. *spl(e)it- (cf. Dan., Fris. splitte, O.Fris. splita, Ger. spleißen "to split"), from PIE *(s)plei- "to split, splice" (see flint). Meaning "leave, depart" first recorded 1954, U.S. slang. Of couples, "to separate, divorce" from 1942. To spilt the difference is from 1715; to split one's ticket in the U.S. political sense is attested from 1842. The acrobatic feat first so called in 1861. Meaning "sweet dish of sliced fruit with ice cream" is attested from 1920, Amer.Eng. Splitting image "exact likeness" is from 1880. Split screen is from 1953; split shift is from 1955; split personality first attested 1919. Split-level as a type of building plan is recorded from 1952. Split-second first attested 1884, in ref. to a type of stopwatch with two second hands that could be stopped independently; adj. meaning "occurring in a fraction of a second" is from 1946.