Did you know?
If you guessed that the secret to the origins of secrete is the word secret, you are correct. Secrete developed in the mid-18th century as an alteration of a now obsolete verb secret. That verb had the meaning now carried by secrete and derived from the familiar noun secret ("something kept hidden or unexplained"). The noun, in turn, traces back to the Latin secretus, the past participle of the verb secernere, meaning "to separate" or "to distinguish." Incidentally, there is an earlier and distinct verb secrete with the more scientific meaning "to form and give off (a secretion)." That secrete is a back-formation from secretion, another word that can be traced back to secernere.
Examples of secrete in a Sentence
Caroline Tien, SELF, 9 Apr. 2026
The authors may even be right about the growing evidence for the existence of God secreted away in the latest science.
—Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2026
Birds, on the other hand, have glands above their eyes that secrete high-salinity fluid like a mammal’s kidney would.
—Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 18 Mar. 2026
Normal weight on the outside, visceral fat within —which secretes inflammatory compounds silently destroying arteries.
—Aditi Kantipuly, STAT, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for secrete
Cite this Entry
“Secrete.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secrete. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
Copy Citation
