secretariat
noun /ˌsekrəˈteəriət/, /ˌsekrəˈteəriæt/
/ˌsekrəˈteriət/
- the department of a large international or political organization which is responsible for running it, especially the office of a secretary generalWord Originearly 19th cent.: from French secrétariat, from medieval Latin secretariatus, from secretarius ‘confidential officer’, from Latin secretum ‘secret’, neuter of secretus ‘separate, set apart’, from the verb secernere, from se- ‘apart’ + cernere ‘sift’.