Segregated

How to spell segregated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce segregated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does segregated mean?

1. adjectiveSet apart or kept separate, especially when one group is divided from another by policy or design.
2. verbPast tense of segregate: separated people or things into distinct groups.

Segregated in a sentence

• adjective

  The company kept segregated break rooms for managers and floor staff.

• verb

  The warehouse manager segregated the flammable chemicals from the general stock.

• adjective

  The city remained largely segregated along racial lines for decades.

• verb

  The auditors segregated the disputed invoices for a closer review.

Where does segregated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb segregare, which meant 'to set apart from the flock'. It was built from the prefix se-, meaning 'apart' or 'aside', and grex (in its stem form greg-), meaning 'a flock or herd of animals'. So the literal image is of pulling a sheep out of the herd, and from that came the broader sense of separating people or things into distinct groups. English took the verb 'segregate' from this Latin source in the sixteenth century, and 'segregated' is its inflected and adjectival form. The same greg- root, the idea of a flock gathered together, survives in the related words 'gregarious', 'congregate', and 'aggregate', which is a handy clue to the single g that follows the first e: it is seg-greg, not seg-re.

How the word is built

• se- (apart)
• greg (from Latin grex, gregis: flock, herd)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ed (past/adjective ending)