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.ɹəˌtə.ɹi/, /ˈsɛk.ɹə.tɹi/
(General American) enPR: sĕk'rətĕrē, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk(ɹ)əˌtɛɹi/, [ˈsɛk(ɹ)əˌtʰɛɹi]
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

secretary (plural secretaries)

(obsolete) Someone entrusted with a secret; a confidant.
(obsolete) Someone employed as a scribe for personal correspondence.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, 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!"
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.
(often capitalized) The head of a department of government.
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.
(US) A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire.
A secretary bird, a bird of the species Sagittarius serpentarius.

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
undersecretary

Related terms

secret
secretion
secretive
secretory
secretariat

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) (kʿartułar), քարտուղարուհի (hy) (kʿartułaruhi) (female)
Azerbaijani: katib, katibə (female)
Bashkir: сәркәтип (särkätip)
Basque: idazkari
Belarusian: сакрата́р m (sakratár), сакрата́рка f (sakratárka)
Bengali: সম্পাদক (bn) (sômpadôkô)
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)
Mandarin: 秘書／秘书 (zh) (mìshū)
Min Nan: 秘書, 秘书 (pì-su)
Wu: 秘書, 秘书 (pi sr)
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) (katçı), секретарь (ky) (sekretarʹ)
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) (kʿartułar)
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 (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

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) (grasełan)
Bulgarian: писалище (bg) n (pisalište)
Danish: sekretær c (archaic)
Finnish: kirjoituspöytä (fi)
French: secrétaire (fr)
German: Schreibsekretär m, Sekretär (de) m
Hungarian: szekreter
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)

(transitive) To serve as a secretary of.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:secretary.