Intersect

How to spell intersect

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce intersect

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intersect mean?

1. verbTo cross or cut across one another, meeting at a point or along a line.

Intersect in a sentence

• The two main roads intersect near the old market square.

• Draw a line that will intersect the circle at two points.

Where does intersect come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin intersecare, formed from inter, meaning 'between' or 'among', and secare, meaning 'to cut'. The literal sense was therefore 'to cut between' or 'to cut into pieces', describing one line or surface slicing across another. English adopted it in the early 1600s, keeping the geometric idea of lines or paths crossing one another at a point. The root secare is a productive one: it also gives us 'section', 'dissect', 'bisect', and even 'sector', all sharing the notion of cutting. Remembering that the second half is the same 'sect' that means 'cut' helps fix the spelling, since the trap is hearing the unstressed middle vowel and writing 'inter' correctly before the firm '-sect'.

How the word is built

• inter- (between, among)
• sect (cut, from Latin secare 'to cut')