secern

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secern

/sɪˈsɜːn/ UK
/sə-/ UK
/səˈsɝn/ US

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)n

Where it comes from

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”)).

Senses 1.3 and 2.2 (“synonym of secrete”) derive from the use of the Latin word sēcernere to translate Ancient Greek ἀποκρίνειν (apokrínein), the active infinitive participle of ἀποκρίνω (apokrínō, “to set apart, separate; to choose; to reject on inquiry; to answer, reply”).

verb secerns · secerning · secerned · secern

archaic, literary, transitive To separate or set apart (someone or something from other persons or things). '[T]is not ſo much a local and bodily ſecerning our ſelves from evil men that God requires (as the Donatiſts falſely taught) but a ſpiritual ſeparation in mind and affections, and from their ſins, more than from their perſons.
Similar: allocate, appropriate, shelve, assign, dedicate, detach, designate, earmark, preselect, put aside, secern, secernate
broadly, literary, transitive To separate (something from other things) in the mind; to discriminate, to distinguish.
Similar: differentiate, discern
archaic, literary, transitive Synonym of secrete (“to extract or separate (a substance) from the blood, etc., for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function”). [T]he joint-glands themſelves grovv rigid, and ſecern leſs of their proper humour. Hence vvhen the gout falls upon people in years, it proves very ſevere, for vvant of a neceſſary quantity of that oleaginous matter to extinguiſh it.
Similar: secrete
intransitive, literary Of a person or thing: to become separated from others.
intransitive, literary, rare To secrete a substance. […] Birds bee commonly better Meat than Beaſts, becauſe their Fleſh doth aſſimilate more finely, and ſecerneth more ſubtilly.

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MLA

"secern." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/secern. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

secern. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/secern

Chicago

"secern." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/secern.

BibTeX

@misc{secern_2026,
  title = {secern},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/secern},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}