Etymograph

English

secco

Secco comes from Italian secco ‘dry’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *seyk- ‘to reach, grasp’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seyk-1‘to reach, grasp’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsiccus1‘dry’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentsecco2‘dry’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1987secco2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Italian secco
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English secco
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, James Black, Recent Advances in the Conservation and Analysis of Artifact: “The Roman frescoes are generally robust, but the Chinese…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seyk-Wiktionary, Italian secco‘to reach, grasp’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsiccusWiktionary, Italian secco‘dry’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentseccoWiktionary, English secco‘dry’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1987seccoWiktionary, English secco. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, James Black, Recent Advances in the Conservation and Analysis of Artifact: “The Roman frescoes are generally robust, but the Chinese…”

Linked words

through Latin siccus ‘dry’

sack, desiccation, desiccant, 9 more

Today it means

adj Dry.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “secco”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Italian secco. 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 *seyk- / secco

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