English
intersect
Intersect comes from Latin intersecare ‘to cut between, cut off’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEintersecare‘to cut between, cut off’
- Englishearliest quotation 1782–1785intersect
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEintersecare‘to cut between, cut off’
- Englishearliest quotation 1782–1785intersect
Earliest quotation: 1782–1785, William Cowper, (please specify the page): “Lands intersected by a narrow frith / Abhor each…”
A compound of inter ‘between’ + secare ‘to cut’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér ‘between’
Proto-Italic *n̥ter ‘between’
Latin inter ‘between’
Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’
Proto-Italic *sekaō ‘to cut’
Latin secō ‘to cut’
Every English word from Latin intersecare
Today it means
verb To cut into or between; to cut or cross mutually; to divide into parts.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin intersecare / intersect