divorce n.

early 15c., diverten, "change the direction or course of; change the aim or destination of, turn aside or away" (transitive), from Old French divertir (14c.) and directly from Latin divertere "to turn in different directions," blended with devertere "turn aside," from vertere "to turn" (from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend") with, in the first word, an assimilated form of dis- "aside," and in the second with de- "from."

Sense of "draw off (someone) from a particular intention or state of mind" is from c. 1600, hence the meaning "amuse, entertain" (1660s). Related: Diverted; diverting.

"divorced woman," 1764, from French divorcée, noun use of fem. past participle of divorcer (see divorce (v.)). It began to lose its italics by the 1880s. The male equivalent in French is divorcé.

1520s, "act or process of divorcing," from divorce (v.) + -ment. General sense of "severance of a close relation" is from 1550s.