separate

Pronunciation

• IPA: adjective UK /ˈsep.ᵊr.ət/, US /ˈsep.ɚ.ɪt/; verb UK /ˈsep.ᵊr.eɪt/, US /ˈsep.ə.reɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English separaten,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin sēparātus, past participle of sēparāre (“to pull apart”),^[2][3] from sē- (“apart”) and parāre (“to make ready, prepare”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, procure”).^[2] Sever is a doublet, through French.^[2][3] The adjective is from the verb or from Latin sēparātus,^[2][3] and the noun is from the adjective.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put apart: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[3] and between 1432 and 1450 in the OED.^[4] Middle English already used separate as a past participle, “cut off”, and of a spouse, “estranged”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense “to part, become disconnected” is from the 1580s of things and the 1680s of people.^[2] The adjective, “kept apart, divided”, is from 1600,^[3][2][4] and “individual, particular” from the 1670s.^[2] A separate was a separatist in religion from 1612.^[3] Separately is from the 1550s.^[2] Separate but equal, of segregation on American railways, is by 1890,^[2] and separate development, the official name of apartheid in South Africa, from 1955.^[2] Separates, items of clothing worn together, is a later noun.^[5][6]

Timeline

• before 1425 – verb, to put apart.^[3]
• 1550s – separately.^[2]
• 1580s – to come apart.^[2]
• 1600 – adjective, disconnected.^[3][2]
• 1612 – noun, a separatist.^[3]
• 1670s – individual, particular.^[2]
• 1890 – separate but equal.^[2]
• 1955 – separate development.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To set or keep apart; to divide.
2. To come apart; to go different ways.
3. To tell apart; to distinguish.
4. Of a couple, to stop living together.
5. To remove from a mixture; to isolate.

Adjective

1. Set or kept apart; not joined.
2. Existing by itself; distinct, individual.

Noun

1. separates: items of clothing worn in various combinations.

Word family

• separately
• separateness
• separable
• separation
• separationist
• reseparate
• separatism
• separatist

Related words

• separative
• sever
• several
• prepare
• pare
• apparatus

References

1. ^ 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 o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin