secretary

See also: Secretary

English

Alternative forms

• secretarie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin secrētārius (“one entrusted with secrets”), from Latin secrētus (“private, secret”), past participle of secernere (“to separate, set apart”), from se- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.ɹə.tə.ɹi/, /ˈsɛk.ɹə.tɹi/
• (General American) enPR: sĕk'rətĕrē, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ɹ)əˌtɛɹ.i/, [ˈsɛk.(ɹ)əˌtʰɛɹ.i]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

secretary (plural secretaries)

1. (obsolete) Someone entrusted with a secret; a confidant.
2. (obsolete) Someone employed as a scribe for personal correspondence.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Letters Restored”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 220:

     "Do not give yourself any uneasiness about one so utterly unworthy of a thought! Sir George Kingston is without one grain of either honour or real feeling! The fact is, I have, for some months past, been his secretary, and wrote for him the letters which were sent you!"

4. A person who keeps records, takes notes and handles general clerical work.

   I have a personal secretary to help me organize my clients.

   The secretary at the school is in charge of communication between parents, students, and staff.

6. (often capitalized) The head of a department of government.
8. A managerial or leading position in certain non-profit organizations, such as political parties, trade unions, international organizations.

   Ban Ki-Moon was a secretary general of the United Nations.

10. (US) A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire.
12. A secretary bird, a bird of the species Sagittarius serpentarius.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• class secretary
• foreign secretary
• general secretary
• Home Secretary
• press secretary
• secretarial
• secretary bird
• secretary desk
• Secretary General
• secretary hand
• secretary problem
• secretary spread
• secretaryess
• secretaryless
• secretarylike
• secretaryship
• social secretary
• undersecretary

Related terms

• secret
• secretion
• secretive
• secretory
• secretariat

Descendants

• → Punjabi: ਸਕੱਤਰ (sakattar)

Translations

person keeping records and handling clerical work

• Aghwan: 𐕁𐔼𐕗𐔿𐔰𐔱𐔰𐔰𐔾 (d'iṗn'abaal)
• Albanian: sekretar (sq) m, sekretare (sq) f
• Arabic: سِكْرِتِير m (sekretēr), سِكْرِتِيرَة (ar) f (sekretēra), كَاتِب (ar) m (kātib), كَاتِبَة f (kātiba)
• Armenian: քարտուղար (hy) (kʻartuġar), քարտուղարուհի (hy) (kʻartuġaruhi) (female)
• Azerbaijani: katib, katibə (female)
• Bashkir: сәркәтип (sərkətip)
• Basque: idazkari
• Belarusian: сакрата́р m (sakratár), сакрата́рка f (sakratárka)
• Bengali: সম্পাদক (bn) (śompadok)
• Bulgarian: секрета́р (bg) m (sekretár), секрета́рка f (sekretárka)
• Burmese: စက္ကရီတေရီ (my) (cakka.riteri), စာချီ (my) (cahkyi), အတွင်းရေးမှူး (my) (a.twang:re:hmu:)
• Chechen: йозанча (jozanča)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 秘書／秘书 (bei³ syu¹), 書記／书记 (syu¹ gei³)

  Hokkien: 秘書／秘书 (pì-su)

  Mandarin: 秘書／秘书 (zh) (mìshū), 書記／书记 (zh) (shūjì)

  Wu: 秘書／秘书 (⁵pi-sy)

• Czech: sekretář (cs) m, sekretářka (cs) f
• Danish: sekretær c
• Dutch: secretaresse (nl) f, secretaris (nl) m
• Esperanto: sekretario (eo)
• Estonian: sekretär, asjaajaja, kirjatoimetaja (obsolete)
• Finnish: sihteeri (fi), kirjuri (fi)
• French: secrétaire (fr) m or f
• Galician: secretario (gl) m, secretaria f
• Georgian: მდივანი (mdivani)
• German: Sekretär (de) m, Sekretärin (de) f
• Greek: γραμματέας (el) m or f (grammatéas)

  Ancient: γραμματεύς m (grammateús)

• Hebrew: מַזְכִּיר (he) m (mazkir), מַזְכִּירָה f (mazkira)
• Hindi: सचिव (hi) m (saciv), सेक्रेटरी (hi) m (sekreṭrī)
• Hungarian: titkár (hu), titkárnő (hu), adminisztrátor (hu)
• Icelandic: ritari m
• Ido: sekretario (io)
• Indonesian: sekretaris (id)
• Interlingua: secretaria f
• Irish: rúnaí m
• Italian: segretario (it) m
• Japanese: 秘書 (ja) (ひしょ, hisho)
• Kazakh: хатшы (xatşy)
• Khmer: ស្មៀន (km) (smiən)
• Korean: 비서(秘書) (ko) (biseo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سِکرِتێر (sikritêr)

  Northern Kurdish: katib (ku), sekreter (ku)

• Kyrgyz: катчы (ky) (katcı), секретарь (ky) (sekretar)
• Lao: ເລຂານຸການ (lē khā nu kān)
• Latin: scrība m, librarius m, librariolus m, sēcrētārius m (Mediaeval)
• Latvian: sekretārs m
• Lithuanian: sekretorius (lt) m
• Macedonian: секретар m (sekretar), секретарка f (sekretarka)
• Malay: setiausaha (ms), sekretaris
• Manx: screeudeyr m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: бичээч (mn) (bičeeč)

• Navajo: naaltsoos ííłʼíní
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sekretær (no) m

• Pashto: منشي m (monší), سکرتر m (sekartár), سکرټر (ps) m (sekarṭár), کاتب (ps) m (kātéb)
• Persian: سکرتر (fa) (sekreter), کاتب (fa) (kâteb)
• Polish: sekretarz (pl) m, sekretarka (pl) f
• Portuguese: secretário (pt) m, secretária (pt) f
• Romanian: secretar (ro) m, secretară (ro) f
• Russian: секрета́рь (ru) m or f (sekretárʹ), секрета́рша (ru) f (sekretárša) (colloquial for female)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùnaire m, clèireach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: секрѐта̄р m, секрета̀рица f, та̑јнӣк m (Bosnia, Croatia), та̑јница f (Bosnia, Croatia)

  Roman: sekrètār (sh) m, sekretàrica (sh) f, tȃjnīk (sh) m (Bosnia, Croatia), tȃjnica (sh) f (Bosnia, Croatia)

• Slovak: sekretár m, sekretárka f
• Slovene: sekretar m, sekretarka f, tajnik (sl) m, tajnica f
• Southern Altai: качы (kačï)
• Spanish: secretario (es) m, secretaria (es) f
• Swahili: karani (sw)
• Swedish: sekreterare (sv) c
• Tagalog: sekretarya, kalihim
• Tajik: котиб (kotib), котиба (tg) (kotiba) (female)
• Tatar: секретар (sekretar)
• Telugu: కార్యదర్శి (te) (kāryadarśi), సహాయకుడు (sahāyakuḍu)
• Thai: เลขานุการ (th) (lee-kǎa-nú-gaan)
• Tok Pisin: sekreteri
• Turkish: sekreter (tr), katip (tr)
• Turkmen: sekretar
• Ukrainian: секрета́р m (sekretár), секрета́рка f (sekretárka)
• Urdu: سکریٹری m (sekreṭrī)
• Uyghur: كاتىپ (katip)
• Uzbek: sekretar (uz), kotib (uz)
• Vietnamese: thư ký (vi), bí thư (vi)
• Volapük: sekretan (vo)
• Welsh: ysgrifennydd (cy) m, ysgrifenyddes (cy) f
• Yiddish: סעקרעטאַר m (sekretar), סעקרעטאַרשע f (sekretarshe)

head of a department of government

• Armenian: քարտուղար (hy) (kʻartuġar)
• Bulgarian: министър (bg) m (ministǎr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大臣 (zh) (dàchén)

• Czech: ministr (cs) m
• Danish: minister (da) c
• Esperanto: sekretario (eo)
• Finnish: ministeri (fi)
• French: secrétaire (fr)
• Galician: ministro m
• Georgian: მდივანი (mdivani), მინისტრი (ka) (minisṭri)
• German: Staatssekretär (de) m
• Greek: υπουργός (el) m or f (ypourgós)
• Hungarian: miniszter (hu), államtitkár (hu)
• Indonesian: menteri (id)
• Interlingua: secretaria f
• Irish: rúnaí m
• Italian: ministro (it) m
• Japanese: 大臣 (ja) (だいじん, daijin), 長官 (ja) (ちょうかん, chōkan)
• Korean: 대신 (ko) (daesin), 장관 (ko) (janggwan)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سِکرِتێر (sikritêr)

  Northern Kurdish: sekreter (ku)

• Malay: setiausaha (ms), sekretaris
• Manx: screeudeyr m
• Portuguese: secretário (pt) m, secretária (pt) f
• Romanian: secretar (ro) m, secretară (ro) f
• Russian: мини́стр (ru) m (minístr), секрета́рь (ru) m (sekretárʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùnaire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̑јнӣк m, та̑јница f

  Roman: tȃjnīk (sh) m, tȃjnica (sh) f

• Spanish: secretario (es) m
• Swedish: minister (sv) c
• Tagalog: kalihim
• Telugu: కార్యదర్శి (te) (kāryadarśi)
• Thai: รัฐมนตรี (th) (rát-tà-mon-dtrii)
• Tok Pisin: sekreteri
• Vietnamese: bộ trưởng (vi)

leading or managerial position in certain organizations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 書記／书记 (zh) (shūjì)

• Czech: tajemník (cs) m
• Danish: sekretær c
• Finnish: sihteeri (fi)
• Galician: secretario (gl) m
• German: Sekretär (de) m
• Greek: γραμματέας (el) m or f (grammatéas)
• Hungarian: főtitkár (hu)
• Indonesian: sekretaris (id)
• Irish: rúnaí m
• Italian: segretario (it) m
• Malay: setiausaha (ms), sekretaris
• Manx: screeudeyr m
• Scottish Gaelic: rùnaire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̑јнӣк m, та̑јница f

  Roman: tȃjnīk (sh) m, tȃjnica (sh) f

• Thai: เลขาธิการ (th) (lee-kǎa-tí-gaan)

type of desk

• Armenian: գրասեղան (hy) (graseġan)
• Bulgarian: писалище (bg) n (pisalište)
• Danish: sekretær c (archaic)
• Finnish: kirjoituspöytä (fi)
• French: secrétaire (fr)
• German: Schreibsekretär m, Sekretär (de) m
• Hungarian: szekreter (hu)
• Interlingua: bureau
• Italian: scrittoio (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sekreter (ku)

• Portuguese: escrivaninha (pt) f, secretária (pt) f, (portugal) secretária (pt)
• Romanian: secretar (ro) m
• Russian: секрете́р (ru) m (sekretɛ́r)
• Spanish: escribanía (es) f

sagittarius serpentarius

• Bulgarian: секретар (bg) m (sekretar)
• Danish: sekretærfugl c
• Finnish: sihteeri (fi)
• French: messager serpentaire
• German: Sekretär (de)
• Hungarian: kígyászkeselyű (hu)
• Irish: rúnaí m
• Italian: segretario (it) m, serpentario (it) m
• Manx: screeudeyr m
• Romanian: pasăre secretar f
• Russian: пти́ца-секрета́рь (ru) f (ptíca-sekretárʹ)
• Spanish: serpentario m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} sekretaris (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} secretario m, ^{(please verify)} scriptorio
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} segretario (it) m, ^{(please verify)} segretaria (it) f

Verb

secretary (third-person singular simple present secretaries, present participle secretarying, simple past and past participle secretaried)

1. (transitive) To serve as a secretary of.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:secretary.

Further reading

• “secretary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “secretary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “secretary”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.