sect
/sɛkt/noun
sect is spelled S-E-C-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 14,106th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sect means “An offshoot of a larger religion or denomination” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sect is sects.
How many letters and syllables are in sect?
| Letters | 4: S-E-C-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.5 times per million words; the 14,106th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sect?
Sect appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 14,106th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sect?
- /sɛkt/
Sect has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sect.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sect
Also written: sex.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with sect?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sect.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: cest.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of sect
- sects plural
- more sect. comparative
- most sect. superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sect mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An offshoot of a larger religion or denomination.
a religious sect
- 2
A group following a specific ideal or a leader.
- 3
obsoleteA cutting; a scion.
- 4
An ancient astrological concept, a form of polarity by which heavenly bodies were designated as either diurnal or nocturnal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense religious movement:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sect come from?
From Middle English secte, from Old French secte (“a sect in philosophy or religion”), from Late Latin secta (“a sect in philosophy or religion, a school, party, faction, class, guild, band, particularly a heretical doctrine or sect, etc.”), possibly, from Latin sequi (“to follow”). Alternatively linked to sectus (“cut off, divided”), past participle of secō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).