Saecularize
/ˈsɛkjʊləraɪz/noun
To make secular; to remove from religious or ecclesiastical control or use.
Did you know?Its root comes from Latin saeculum, meaning an “age” or “generation,” so the word began as something tied to the span of human time before it became a term for removing holy things from sacred authority.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
saeculum
“an age, generation, or human lifetime”
Late Latin
Latin
saecularis
“belonging to an age or to the worldly sphere, not monastic or clerical”
Middle English
Anglo-French
seculer
“worldly; not ecclesiastical”
Early Modern English
English
secularize
“to make secular or worldly”
Modern English
English
saecularize
“to remove from religious control or status”