Etymologically
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secretary

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsek.rə.tər.i/, /ˈsek.rə.tri/, US /ˈsek.rə.ter.i/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English secretarie,[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin sēcrētārius (“clerk, notary, scribe; confidential officer, confidant”),[3][2] the noun use of an adjective meaning “private, secret”,[3][4] from Latin sēcrētum (“a secret, a hidden thing”),[3][2] the neuter of sēcrētus, the source of secret.[5] Late Latin had a similar title, silentiārius “privy councillor”, from silentium “silence”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person entrusted with secrets or confidential matters, a confidant: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,[2][6] a sense now obsolete.[3]

Semantic evolution

One whose office is to write letters and keep records for another, originally for a king, is recorded by about 1400,[3] probably before 1430 in Lydgate.[2] The title of a minister at the head of a government department, as in Secretary of State, is from the 1590s, first in 1599.[3][2] A style of handwriting used in old legal documents was called secretary from the 1570s.[3] A writing desk is called a secretary from 1833, after French secrétaire.[2][4] The South African secretary bird (1786) is said to be named for its crest, which looks like pens stuck behind an ear.[3] Secretarial is from 1801, in Bentham,[2] and secretariat from 1811.[2][4] The verb, “to work as a secretary”, is from 1927.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1387 – a confidant.[2][6]
  • c. 1400 – one who writes for another.[3][2]
  • 1570s – secretary hand.[3]
  • 1599 – a minister of state.[2]
  • 1786 – secretary bird.[3]
  • 1801 – secretarial.[2]
  • 1833 – a writing desk.[2]
  • 1927 – verb, to work as a secretary.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person employed to deal with correspondence, keep files and do clerical work for another person or an organization.
  2. An officer of a society or company who keeps records, takes minutes and answers letters.
  3. An official at the head of a government department: Secretary of State.
  4. A diplomat ranking below an ambassador.
  5. A writing desk with a top section for books.

Word family

  • secretarial
  • secretaryship
  • subsecretary
  • undersecretary
  • foreign secretary
  • Home Secretary
  • press secretary
  • secretary bird
  • secret
  • secretion
  • secretive
  • secretory
  • secretariat
  • secrete
  • secretaire

Usage notes

A separate obsolete secretary, from about 1440, meant a secret chamber or repository.[6] The pronunciation with three syllables, /ˈsek.rə.tri/, is especially British.[7][1]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster