sécant

Forms

sécant (feminine sécante, masculine plural sécants, feminine plural sécantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin secāns (“cutting”), the present participle of secō (“to cut”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The Petit Robert groups it with scier, from the same Latin verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Charles de Bovelles uses it in 1542 as an adjective in his Géométrie, of a line that cuts another.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The feminine sécante became a noun in 1634, in Simon Stevin's mathematical works, for a cutting straight line.^[2][4] In 1680 Richelet records the trigonometric sense, one of the six trigonometric lines of an angle.^[2][4] Sécante d'un cercle, a line cutting a circle at two points, is recorded in the Larousse of 1876.^[4]

English secant was taken straight from Latin in the 1590s.^[6]

Timeline

• 1542 – Charles de Bovelles uses the adjective.^[2][4]
• 1590s – English secant is recorded, from Latin.^[6]
• 1634 – Sécante as a noun in Stevin.^[2][4]
• 1680 – Richelet records the trigonometric sense.^[2][4]
• 1876 – Sécante d'un cercle in the Larousse.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (geometry) That cuts a line, a surface or a solid; intersecting: deux droites sécantes.^[2][5][4][1]

Noun

1. (geometry, feminine sécante) A secant line, especially one cutting a circle at two points.^[5][4][2]
2. (trigonometry, feminine) The secant of an angle, the reciprocal of its cosine.^[5][4]

Related words

• scier
• cosécante
• Latin secō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com