You searched for: “secretaries
secretary (s) (noun), secretaries (pl)
1. Someone who does general clerical and administrative work such as word-processing, filing, and arranging appointments for an individual or an organization; someone who is entrusted with secrets; a confidential officer.
2. In the United States, an official who advises the President in various fields and who is selected by the President and is in charge of a particular department of the government; such as, Attorney General, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of State, Secretary of Interior, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Transportation, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Is anyone missing?
3. Etymology: "a person entrusted with secrets", from Medieval Latin secretarius, "clerk, notary, confidential officer, confidant"; from Latin secretum, "a secret".

The meaning, "a person who keeps records, writes letters, etc."; originally, for a king, was first recorded in about 1400.

This entry is located in the following units: -ary (page 11) cern-, cert-, cer-; cret-, creet-, cre- (page 4) se- (page 1)