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
New Atlas, 20 July 2025
In animals, poison is often secreted and becomes toxic when ingested or comes into contact with skin.
—Gabrielle Chenault, Nashville Tennessean, 13 June 2025
Recently, researchers modified male mosquitoes to secrete toxic proteins in their semen, to kill female mosquitoes after mating.
—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
See All Example Sentences for secrete
Cite this Entry
“Secrete.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secrete. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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