Etymograph

English

resect

Resect comes from Latin resectus ‘curtailed, restrained’, from resecare ‘to cut off’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sek-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekaō1‘to cut’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsecō2as secare‘to cut’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresecare2‘to cut off’next step skipped: Latin resecō
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresectus2‘curtailed, restrained’past participle of resecare
  6. Englishtodayresect2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin seco
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English resect

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-Wiktionary, Latin seco‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekaōWiktionary, Latin seco‘to cut’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsecōWiktionary, English resectas secare‘to cut’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresecareWiktionary, English resect‘to cut off’next step skipped: Latin resecō
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresectusWiktionary, English resect‘curtailed, restrained’past participle of resecare
  6. EnglishtodayresectWiktionary, English resect

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’

saw, sign, ship, seal, sack, scarlet, sawyer, sax, shingle, scythe, sich, sigil, sain, sedge, desiccation, desiccant, 59 more

through Proto-Italic *sekaō ‘to cut’

sexuality, homosexual, dissection, 17 more

through Latin secō ‘to cut’

risk, sex, sexual, section, segment, sickle, het, insect, dissect, brassica, seg, 20 more

Today it means

verb To remove (some part of an organ or structure) by surgical means.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “resect”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin seco. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sek- / resect

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