"S" Word Origins

secretarian

Origin

From Medieval Latin sēcrētārius + -an. By surface analysis, secretary + -an.

secretariat

French

Borrowed from French "secrétariat."

secretary

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin "secretarius" ("one entrusted with secrets"), from Latin "secretus" ("private, secret").

secrete

Latin · 1678

First recorded in 1678, from Latin "sēcrētus" ("separated, hidden").

secretion

Latin · 1646

From French "sécrétion," from Latin "sēcrētiō," first recorded in English around 1646.

secretive

Middle English

From Middle English "secretife," from "secret" plus "-ive."

secretly

Origin

From "secret" plus the adverb suffix "-ly."

secretor

Origin

From secrete + -or.

sect

Late Latin

From Old French "secte," from Late Latin "secta" ("a school of thought, faction"), possibly from Latin "sequi" ("to follow").

sectarian

Origin

From Medieval Latin sectarius + -an. Its corresponding etymology per the first sense is sect + -arian.

sectary

Origin

Either from the French sectaire or directly from its etymon, the Medieval Latin sectārius, from secta (“sect”). Cognates include the Italian settario and the Portuguese and Spanish sectario.

section

Latin

From Old French "section," from Latin "sectio" ("a cutting"), from "secare" ("to cut") — the same root as "saw."

sector

Latin

From Latin sector, "cutter," from secare, "to cut" — the same root behind "section" and "dissect."

secular

Latin

From Latin saecularis, "of an age or generation," from saeculum ("age, generation"). The Church originally used it to mean "of this present world," as opposed to eternal or spiritual matters.

secure

Latin

From Latin securus, "free from care," from se- ("without") + cura ("care") — literally "careless" in the old sense of untroubled. The same root gives us "cure" and "sure."

secureness

Origin

From secure + -ness.

securer

Origin

From secure + -er.

security

Latin

From Latin securitas, "freedom from care," built from the same root as secure — se- ("without") + cura ("care").

sed

Origin · 1970

Short for "stream editor", the name given to the original Unix tool when it was created in the 1970s.

sedan

Italian · 1630

The "carried chair" sense appeared in the 1630s, possibly linked to a southern Italian word for "seat." The car sense arose much later, in early-1900s North America.

sedate

Latin

From Latin sedatus, "calmed, settled," from sedare, "to calm" — ultimately from the same root as "sit."

sedative

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin sedativus, from the same root as "sedate" — Latin sedare, "to calm."

sedent

Origin

From Latin sedentis. Doublet of sejant.

sedentary

Latin

From Latin sedentarius 'sitting, of one who sits at work', from sedere 'to sit'.

seder

Hebrew

Borrowed from Hebrew seder, meaning "order," reflecting the fixed sequence of the meal's rituals.

Sedgwick

Old English

From an Old English personal name Sicg combined with wīċ, "dairy farm."

sediment

Latin

From Latin sedimentum, "a settling," from sedere, "to sit" — the particles have quite literally "sat down."

sedition

Latin

From Latin seditio, "a going apart" or "discord," from sed- ("apart") + itio ("a going") — the idea of a faction breaking away from the whole.

seditious

Origin

From Middle French séditieux, from Latin seditiosus.

Sedona

Origin · 1877

Named after Sedona Schnebly (1877-1950), whose own name was coined by her mother.

seduce

Latin

From Latin seducere, "to lead astray," from se- ("away") + ducere ("to lead") — the same root as "duct" and "conduct."

seducer

Origin

From seduce + -er.

seduction

Latin

From Latin seductio, "a leading astray," from the same root as "seduce."

seductive

Latin

From Latin seduct-, the past-participle stem of seducere ("to lead astray"), plus the adjective ending -ive.

sedulous

Origin

From Latin sēdulus (“diligent, industrious, sedulous; solicitous; unremitting; zealous”) + English -ous. Sēdulus is probably derived from sēdulō (“diligently; carefully; purposely; zealously”) (possibly from sē- (prefix meaning ‘without’) + dolō (ablative singular of dolus (“deceit, deception; evil intent, malice”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to count, reckon”))) + -us (suffix forming adjectives).

see

Old English

From Old English seon, "to see, perceive, understand," from a very old Germanic root shared across most Germanic languages.

seeability

Origin

From see + -ability.

seeableness

Origin

From seeable + -ness.

seed

Old English

From Old English sæd, "seed, that which is sown," from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to sow" — the same root behind "sow" itself.

seed phrase

English

From seed in the sense of a starting value from which the wallet's keys are generated, plus phrase, since it takes the form of a sequence of words.

seedling

Origin

Formed from seed plus the diminutive suffix -ling, meaning "small young one" — the same pattern as "duckling."

seedy

Origin · 1700

Originally meant "full of seeds," but by the 1700s came to describe someone worn-out or shabby — like a plant that has gone to seed and lost its bloom.

seeing

Origin

Formed from see plus the suffix -ing.

seek

Old English

From Old English secan, "to seek, search for," from a Proto-Germanic root also found in Dutch zoeken and German suchen.

seeker

Origin

Formed from seek plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "one who seeks."

seeking

Origin

From seek + -ing.

seel

Origin

From Middle English sel, sele, from Old English *sǣle (“good, fortunate, happy”) (attested in Old English unsǣle (“evil, wicked”)), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“good, happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Danish sæl (“blissful”), Dutch zalig (“blissful”), Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sēls, “good, kind, useful”), Icelandic sæll (“blissful”), Latin sōlor (“to comfort, console”), Swedish säll (“blissful”).

Seeley

Middle English

From Middle English seely, "happy"; as a German surname, from Seele, "soul."