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
The Know, Denver Post, 18 May 2025
The team traced the therapeutic effect to a compound secreted by the fungus: FF-C1.
—Discover Magazine, 6 May 2025
Leptin is secreted by fat cells and binds to the brain's hypothalamus (like ghrelin).
—Brittany Lubeck, Ms, Rdn, Verywell Health, 14 Apr. 2025
Astrocytes secrete hevin, a type of protein that helps regulate how synapses form and function by influencing how neurons interact with one another.
—Paul McClure 14, New Atlas, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for secrete
Cite this Entry
“Secrete.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secrete. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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