secretary

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈsɛk.ɹəˌtə.ɹi/, /ˈsɛk.ɹə.tɹi/, X-SAMPA: /"sEk.r\@%tE.r\i/, /"sEk.r\@.tr\i/
• (US) IPA: /ˈsɛkɹətɛɹi/, X-SAMPA: /"sEkr\@t@r\i/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Wikipedia secretary (plural secretaries)

1. (obsolete) Someone entrusted with a secret; a confidant.
2. A person who keeps records, takes notes and handles general clerical work.
3. (often capitalized) The head of a department of government.
4. A managerial or leading position in certain non-profit organizations, such as political parties, trade unions, international organizations.

   Ban Ki-Moon is the current secretary general of the United Nations.

5. (US) A type of desk; a secretaire.
6. A species of bird; Sagittarius serpentarius.

Derived terms

• secretary bird

Related terms

• secret
• secretion
• secretive
• secretory

Translations

person keeping records and handling clerical work

• Arabic: سكرتير (ar) (sikritér) m, سكرتيرة (ar) (sikritéra) f
• Armenian: քարտուղար (hy) (kʿartułar), (female) քարտուղարուհի (hy) (kʿartułaruhi)
• Basque: idazkari (eu)
• Bulgarian: секретар (bg) (sekretar) m, секретарка (bg) (sekretarka) f
• Chechen: йозанча
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 秘書 (cmn), 秘书 (cmn) (mìshū)

• Czech: sekretář (cs) m, sekretářka (cs) f
• Dutch: secretaresse (nl) f
• Esperanto: sekretario (eo)
• Finnish: sihteeri (fi)
• French: secrétaire (fr) m and f
• German: Sekretär (de) m, Sekretärin (de) f
• Greek: γραμματέας (el) (gramatéas) m and f
• Hebrew: מזכיר (he) (mazkir) m
• Hungarian: titkár (hu), titkárnő (hu)
• Ido: sekretario (io)
• Interlingua: secretaria f
• Irish: rúnaí (ga) m
• Italian: segretario (it) m

• Japanese: 秘書 (ja) (ひしょ, hisho)
• Khmer: ស្មៀន (km) (smien)
• Korean: 비서 (ko) (biseo) (秘書 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: katib, sekreter

  Sorani: سکرتێر (ku) (sikirtaer)

• Lao: ເລຂານຸການ (lo)
• Manx: screeudeyr (gv) m
• Polish: sekretarz (pl) m, sekretarka (pl) f
• Portuguese: secretário (pt) m, secretária (pt) f
• Romanian: secretar (ro)
• Russian: секретарь (ru) (sekretár’) m and f, секретарша (ru) (sekretárša) f (colloquial)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùnaire (gd) m, clèireach (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: tȃjnīk (sh) m, tȃjnica (sh) f
• Spanish: secretario (es) m, secretaria (es) f
• Swahili: karani (sw)
• Swedish: sekreterare (sv) c
• Tagalog: sekretarya (tl)
• Telugu: కార్యదర్శి (kaaryadarSi), సహాయకుడు (sahaayakuDu)
• Thai: เลขานุการ (th)
• Tok Pisin: sekreteri
• Turkish: sekreter (tr)
• Vietnamese: thư ký (vi)
• Volapük: sekretan (vo)
• Welsh: ysgrifenydd (cy) m, ysgrifenyddes (cy) f

head of a department of government

• Armenian: քարտուղար (hy) (kʿartułar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大臣 (cmn) (dàchén)

• Czech: ministr (cs) m
• Esperanto: sekretario (eo)
• Finnish: ministeri (fi)
• French: secrétaire (fr)
• German: Minister (de) m
• Greek: υπουργός (el) (ipurgós) m and f
• Hungarian: miniszter (hu), államtitkár (hu)
• Interlingua: secretaria f
• Irish: rúnaí (ga) m

• Japanese: 大臣 (ja) (だいじん, daijin), 長官 (ja) (ちょうかん, chōkan)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: sekreter

  Sorani: سکرتێر (ku) (sikirtaer)

• Portuguese: secretário (pt) m, secretária (pt) f
• Russian: министр (ru) (minístr) m, секретарь (ru) (sekretár’) m
• Scottish Gaelic: rùnaire (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: tȃjnīk (sh) m, tȃjnica (sh) f
• Spanish: secretario (es) m
• Swahili: karani (sw)
• Telugu: కార్యదర్శి (kaaryadarSi)
• Tok Pisin: sekreteri

leading or managerial position in certain organizations

• Czech: tajemník (cs) m
• Finnish: sihteeri (fi)
• Greek: γραμματέας (el) (gramatéas) m and f
• Hungarian: főtitkár (hu)

• Irish: rúnaí (ga) m
• Scottish Gaelic: rùnaire (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: tȃjnīk (sh) m, tȃjnica (sh) f
• Swahili: karani (sw)

type of desk

• Armenian: գրասեղան (hy) (graseġan)
• Finnish: kirjoituspöytä (fi)
• French: secrétaire (fr)
• German: Schreibsekretär (de) m
• Hungarian: szekreter (hu)
• Interlingua: bureau

• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: sekreter

• Portuguese: escrivaninha (pt) f, secretária (pt) f, (portugal) secretária (pt)
• Russian: секретер (ru) (sekretér) m
• Spanish: escribanía (es) f
• Swahili: makarani (sw)

sagittarius serpentarius

• Finnish: sihteeri (fi)
• French: messager serpentaire (fr)
• German: Sekretär (de)
• Hungarian: kígyászkeselyű (hu)

• Irish: rúnaí (ga) m
• Russian: птица-секретарь (ru) (ptíca-sekretár’) f
• Spanish: serpentario (es) m
• Swahili: makarani (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: sekretaris
• Interlingua: secretario m, scriptorio
• Italian: segretario m, segretaria 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 usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

External links

• secretary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• secretary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• secretary at OneLook Dictionary Search