diff -r 6183aa8dcdf4 lib/libterminfo/term.c
--- a/lib/libterminfo/term.c	Sun Feb 01 13:15:54 2026 +0000
+++ b/lib/libterminfo/term.c	Tue Feb 17 10:50:05 2026 +0000
@@ -47,8 +47,18 @@
 /*
  * Although we can read v1 structure (which includes v2 alias records)
  * we really want a v3 structure to get numerics of type int rather than short.
+ * In the future, we may want to use /usr/share/terminfo as a directory
+ * and have each terminal description compiled to it's own .cdb file within.
  */
-#define _PATH_TERMINFO	"/usr/share/misc/terminfo"
+#ifndef PATH_SYS_TERMINFO
+#define PATH_SYS_TERMINFO	"/usr/share/misc/terminfo"
+#endif
+#ifndef PATH_PKG_TERMINFO
+#define PATH_PKG_TERMINFO	"/usr/pkg/share/terminfo"
+#endif
+#ifndef PATH_TERMINFO
+#define PATH_TERMINFO		PATH_PKG_TERMINFO ":" PATH_SYS_TERMINFO
+#endif
 
 #ifdef TERMINFO_DB
 static char __ti_database[PATH_MAX];
@@ -274,13 +284,24 @@
 	size_t len, klen;
 	int r;
 
-	r = snprintf(__ti_database, sizeof(__ti_database), "%s.cdb", path);
-	if (r < 0 || (size_t)r > sizeof(__ti_database)) {
+	/* Prefer a specific database */
+	r = snprintf(__ti_database, sizeof(__ti_database), "%s/%c/%s.cdb", path,
+	    name[0], name);
+	if (r < 0 || (size_t)r > sizeof(__ti_database))
 		db = NULL;
-		errno = ENOENT; /* To fall back to a non extension. */
-	} else
+	else
 		db = cdbr_open(__ti_database, CDBR_DEFAULT);
 
+	if (db == NULL) {
+		r = snprintf(__ti_database, sizeof(__ti_database), "%s.cdb",
+		    path);
+		if (r < 0 || (size_t)r > sizeof(__ti_database)) {
+			db = NULL;
+			errno = ENOENT; /* To fall back to a non extension. */
+		} else
+			db = cdbr_open(__ti_database, CDBR_DEFAULT);
+	}
+
 	/* Target file *may* be a cdb file without the extension. */
 	if (db == NULL && errno == ENOENT) {
 		len = strlcpy(__ti_database, path, sizeof(__ti_database));
@@ -424,7 +445,7 @@
 			r = _ti_dbgetterm(term, homepath, name, flags);
 	}
 	if (r != 1)
-		r = _ti_dbgettermp(term, _PATH_TERMINFO, name, flags);
+		r = _ti_dbgettermp(term, PATH_TERMINFO, name, flags);
 #endif
 
 	return r;
diff -r 6183aa8dcdf4 lib/libterminfo/terminfo.5.in
--- a/lib/libterminfo/terminfo.5.in	Sun Feb 01 13:15:54 2026 +0000
+++ b/lib/libterminfo/terminfo.5.in	Tue Feb 17 10:50:05 2026 +0000
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
 .\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.Dd October 18, 2025
+.Dd February 9, 2026
 .Dt TERMINFO 5
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -195,11 +195,13 @@
 .Ed
 .Ss Fetching Compiled Descriptions
 This implementation uses hashed databases managed by
-.Xr cdb 5
-instead of directories.
+.Xr cdb 5 .
 To maintain compatibility with other implementations,
 .Pa .cdb
 is appended to each file checked.
+If the file is a directory then we lookup a subdirectory
+starting with the first letter of the terminal name and then
+the terminal name as the file to actually use.
 .Pp
 If the environment variable
 .Ev TERMINFO
@@ -229,6 +231,8 @@
 will first look for
 .Pa $HOME/.terminfo ,
 followed by
+.Pa /usr/pkg/share/terminfo
+and
 .Pa /usr/share/misc/terminfo
 unless
 .Ev TERMINFO_DIRS
@@ -240,22 +244,13 @@
 .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/terminfo.cdb -compact
 .It Pa $HOME/.terminfo.cdb
 Database of terminal descriptions for personal use.
+.It Pa /usr/pkg/share/terminfo
+Directory containing terminfo databases per terminal description.
 .It Pa /usr/share/misc/terminfo
 File containing terminal descriptions.
 .It Pa /usr/share/misc/terminfo.cdb
 Database of terminal descriptions.
 .El
-.Sh COMPATIBILITY
-Please note that
-.Ev TERMINFO_DIRS
-in
-.Nx
-.Nm
-must point to
-.Nm
-files.
-When using ncurses, it must point to directories instead, since
-ncurses splits out the information into a directory tree.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr infocmp 1 ,
 .Xr tic 1 ,
@@ -287,6 +282,8 @@
 .Nm
 files to search for
 .Ev TERM .
+If unset, defaults to
+.Pa /usr/pkg/share/terminfo:/usr/share/misc/terminfo .
 .El
 .Sh STANDARDS
 .Nm
diff -r 6183aa8dcdf4 usr.bin/tic/tic.1
--- a/usr.bin/tic/tic.1	Sun Feb 01 13:15:54 2026 +0000
+++ b/usr.bin/tic/tic.1	Tue Feb 17 10:50:05 2026 +0000
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
 .\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.Dd June 3, 2012
+.Dd February 9, 2026
 .Dt TIC 1
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .Nm tic
 .Op Fl acSsx
-.Op Fl o Ar file
+.Op Fl o Ar path
 .Ar source
 .Op Ar term1 term2 ...
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
@@ -53,10 +53,11 @@
 Do not discard commented out capabilities.
 .It Fl c
 Only check for errors, don't write the final database.
-.It Fl o Ar file
-Write the database to
-.Ar file
-instead of
+.It Fl o Ar path
+If
+.Ar path
+is a directory then terminal descriptions will be split out into separate
+databases, otherwise the file to write to instead of
 .Ar source Ns .cdb .
 .It Fl S
 For
diff -r 6183aa8dcdf4 usr.bin/tic/tic.c
--- a/usr.bin/tic/tic.c	Sun Feb 01 13:15:54 2026 +0000
+++ b/usr.bin/tic/tic.c	Tue Feb 17 10:50:05 2026 +0000
@@ -567,11 +567,10 @@
 }
 
 static void
-write_database(const char *dbname)
+write_database(const char *dbname, TERM *term)
 {
 	struct cdbw *db;
 	char *tmp_dbname;
-	TERM *term;
 	int fd;
 	mode_t m;
 
@@ -579,8 +578,12 @@
 	if (db == NULL)
 		err(EXIT_FAILURE, "cdbw_open failed");
 	/* Save the terms */
-	STAILQ_FOREACH(term, &terms, next)
+	if (term != NULL)
 		save_term(db, term);
+	else {
+		STAILQ_FOREACH(term, &terms, next)
+			save_term(db, term);
+	}
 
 	easprintf(&tmp_dbname, "%s.XXXXXX", dbname);
 	fd = mkstemp(tmp_dbname);
@@ -603,6 +606,24 @@
 	cdbw_close(db);
 }
 
+static void
+write_databases(const char *dir)
+{
+	TERM *term;
+	char *db, subdir[2] = { '\0', '\0' }, *d;
+
+	STAILQ_FOREACH(term, &terms, next) {
+		subdir[0] = *term->tic->name;
+		easprintf(&d, "%s/%s", dir, subdir);
+		if (mkdir(d, 0755) == -1 && errno != EEXIST)
+			err(EXIT_FAILURE, "mkdir %s failed", d);
+		free(d);
+		easprintf(&db, "%s/%s/%s.cdb", dir, subdir, term->tic->name);
+		write_database(db, term);
+		free(db);
+	}
+}
+
 int
 main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
@@ -700,13 +721,21 @@
 
 	if (ofile == NULL)
 		easprintf(&dbname, "%s.cdb", source);
-	else
-		dbname = ofile;
-	write_database(dbname);
+	else {
+		struct stat sb;
+
+		if (stat(ofile, &sb) != -1 && S_ISDIR(sb.st_mode)) {
+			dbname = NULL;
+			write_databases(ofile);
+		} else
+			dbname = ofile;
+	}
+	if (dbname != NULL)
+		write_database(dbname, NULL);
 
 	if (sflag != 0)
 		fprintf(stderr, "%zu entries and %zu aliases written to %s\n",
-		    nterm, nalias, dbname);
+		    nterm, nalias, dbname ? dbname : ofile);
 
 	if (ofile == NULL)
 		free(dbname);