tranche

Etymology

Borrowed from French tranche, form of trancher (“to cut, to slice”), from Old French trenchier (“cut, make a cut”), possibly from Vulgar Latin *trinicāre (“cut in three parts”). Doublet of traunch and trench.

noun

1. A slice, section or portion.
   Servants, carrying huge baskets suspended before them in which were huge tranches of bread, speedily distributed the contents; and they were followed by others bearing huge cans of milk, hot and cold. 1893, P. Fitzgerald, “Stonyhurst Memories”, in The Month: An Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Science and Art, pages 336–337
   Habeck said he was planning to announce a first tranche of climate protection measures by Easter, and a second by the end of the summer, to come into force by 2023. 2022-01-11, Kate Connolly, “German climate minister says speed of carbon cuts needs to be trebled”, in The Guardian
   The files took all day to upload, since the connection often dropped. […] Then, half an hour before the bookstore closed, the final tranche went through. 2022-10-27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
2. (insurance) A distinct subdivision of a single policyholder's benefits, typically relating to separate premium increments.
3. (pensions) A pension scheme's or scheme member's benefits relating to distinct accrual periods with different rules.
4. (finance) One of a set of classes or risk maturities that compose a multiple-class security, such as a CMO or REMIC; a class of bonds. Collateralized mortgage obligations are structured with several tranches of bonds that have various maturities.

verb

1. (finance, transitive) To divide into tranches.