secretary

pronunciation

How to pronounce secretary in British English: UK [ˈsekrətri] word uk audio image

How to pronounce secretary in American English: US [ˈsekrəteri] word us audio image

Noun:

a person who is head of an administrative department of government
an assistant who handles correspondence and clerical work for a boss or an organization
a person to whom a secret is entrusted
a desk used for writing

Word Origin

secretary: secretary: [14] A secretary was originally a ‘person in someone else’s confidence, sharing secret or private matters with them’ (‘[Christ] taking with him his three special secretaries, that is to say Peter and James and John’, Nicholas Love, Mirror of the life of Jesus Christ 1400). The word was adapted from late Latin sēcrētārius ‘confidential aide’, a derivative of Latin sēcrētus ‘secret’. The notion of writing letters and performing other clerical duties developed in the Latin word, and first emerged in English in the 15th century.=> secret

secretary (n.): late 14c., "person entrusted with secrets," from Medieval Latin secretarius "clerk, notary, confidential officer, confidant," a title applied to various confidential officers, noun use of adjective meaning "private, secret, pertaining to private or secret matters" (compare Latin secretarium "a council-chamber, conclave, consistory"), from Latin secretum "a secret, a hidden thing" (see secret (n.)). Meaning "person who keeps records, write letters, etc.," originally for a king, first recorded c. 1400. As title of ministers presiding over executive departments of state, it is from 1590s. The word also is used in both French and English to mean "a private desk," sometimes in French form secretaire. The South African secretary bird so called (1786) in reference to its crest, which, when smooth, resembles a pen stuck over the ear. Compare Late Latin silentiarius "privy councilor, 'silentiary," from Latin silentium "a being silent."