Etymology

undersecretary

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Today it means: An administrator immediately subordinate to a head of a government department or to a member of a cabinet Full definition →

English secretary ← Medieval Latin secrētārius ← Latin sēcrētus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁entér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂én
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰí
  6. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰér
  7. Proto-Germanic*under
  8. Proto-West Germanic*undar
  9. Old Englishunder-
  10. Middle Englishunder-
  11. Englishunder-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*s(w)é
  13. Latinsē-
  14. Proto-Indo-European*krey-
  15. Proto-Italic*krinō
  16. Latincernō
  17. Latinsēcrētus
  18. Medieval Latinsecrētārius
  19. Englishsecretary
  20. English todayundersecretary

From under- + secretary.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.