Secularism
/ˈsɛkjʊlərɪzəm/noun
The principle or practice of separating religion from civic or educational life.
Did you know?Its root, Latin saeculum, meant an “age” or “generation,” so secular originally described what belongs to this present world rather than to eternity.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*seh₂i-
“to bind together, attach; the root behind Latin words for binding and related ideas”
Latin
Latin
saeculum
“an age, generation, or lifetime; later, the present world or temporal life”
Late Latin
Latin
saecularis
“of an age, worldly, not ecclesiastical”
Old French
Old French
seculer
“worldly; not religious or monastic”
Middle English
English
seculer
“worldly, temporal, not belonging to the church”
19th Century
English
secularism
“the doctrine or principle that religion should not dominate public affairs”
Modern English
English
secularism
“the principle of separating religious institutions from civil government and public life”
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