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sect

Etymology and origin of the English word sect

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɛkt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English secte, borrowed from Old French secte,[2][3][4][5] and directly from Late Latin secta (“religious group, sect”),[3][4][5] from Latin secta (“way, course; school of thought”),[2][3][4][5][6] probably from sectārī “to follow, pursue”, a frequentative of sequī “to follow”.[2][3][4][5][6] Its meaning has been influenced by confusion with Latin secāre “to cut”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A class or kind of persons (c. 1384);[7] a religious order or body (about 1350).[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English sect also meant a religious order and, applied to Christianity, Judaism or Islam, a religion as a whole.[7][4] The sense of a separately organized religious body, a denomination, appeared in the 1570s in a Protestant context, and seems to carry the notion of a party “cut off” from a main body.[4] Shakespeare and Chaucer used it for “sex”, a use now archaic.[5][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – a religious order or body.[3][4]
  • c. 1384 – a class or kind of persons.[7]
  • c. 1386 – a religion; a party within a religion.[7]
  • 1570s – a separately organized religious denomination.[4]
  • 1649 – sectarian.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A religious body, especially one that has broken away from a larger denomination and is regarded as extreme or heretical.
  2. A group forming a distinct unit within a larger group because of particular beliefs or practices.
  3. A small group united by common interests or beliefs, or following a leader; a faction.
  • sectarian
  • sequel
  • sue
  • schism

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sect.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sect. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·