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
Jay Kakade
june 16, New Atlas, 16 June 2025
That pressure may even lead the body to secrete a little extra oxytocin, the love hormone humans produce when cuddling.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN, 9 Mar. 2025
These newest findings on its effects related to amyloid deposits identified a protein called CagA — secreted by most strains of human H. pylori — as the key component.
—F.d. Flam, Twin Cities, 2 July 2025
Researchers have long known that plants secrete a natural chemical called isoprene, but exactly why and how plants did this was sort of an enigma.
—Jay Kakade
june 30, New Atlas, 30 June 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 21 Jul. 2025.
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