secular
/ˈsɛkjələɹ/adjective, noun
secular is spelled S-E-C-U-L-A-R: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, secular means “Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in secular?
| Letters | 7: S-E-C-U-L-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 secular?
Secular appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 secular?
- UK /ˈsɛkjʊlə/
- US /ˈsɛkjələɹ/
Secular has 3 syllables (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-secular.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with secular?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as secular from its last stressed vowel (/ɛkjələɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: recusal.
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 secular
- more secular comparative
- most secular superlative
- seculars plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does secular mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.
- 2
Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.
- 3
Not bound by the vows of a religious order.
Near-synonym: nonmonastic
- 4
Happening once in an age or century.
Near-synonyms: centurial, centennial
- 5
Continuing over a long period of time.
The long-term growth in population and income accounts for most secular trends in economic phenomena.
- 6
Centuries-old, ancient.
- 7
Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.
- 8
Unperturbed over time.
The secular A and nonsecular B parts of hyperfine interaction for any particular frequencies ν_α and ν_β are derived from eqn.(21) by ...
noun
- 1
A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.
- 2
A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.
- 3
A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Secular in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | séculier, laïque, mondain , séculaire |
| German | säkular, weltlich |
| Portuguese | secular, laico |
| Spanish | seglar, laico, mundano, secular |
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 secular come from?
From Middle English seculer, from Old French seculer, from Latin saeculāris (“of the age”), from saeculum.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).