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Added 9 October 2026

secern

/sɪˈsɜːn/ verb

Latin root: sēcernere Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about secern at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To separate or set apart (someone or something from other persons or things).
To separate or set apart (someone or something from other persons or things).
To separate (something from other things) in the mind; to discriminate, to distinguish.

Origin

PIE word *swé Learned borrowing from Latin sēcernere, the present active infinitive of sēcernō (“to put apart, divide, separate, sever, sunder; (figuratively) to disjoin, dissociate, part; to discern, distinguish; to exclude, pull aside, set aside, reject”), from sē- (prefix meaning ‘apart; aside; away’) + cernō (“to divide, separate; to distinguish, sift; to perceive, see; to comprehend, discern, regard, understand; to decide”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to divide, separate, sift”)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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