- separate (v.)
- late 14c., from L. separatus, pp. of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret) + parare "make ready, prepare" (see pare). Sever (q.v.) is a doublet, via French. The adj. meaning "detached, kept apart" is first recorded c.1600, from the pp. used as an adjective. Separate but equal in ref. to U.S. segregation policies on railroads is attested from 1890. Separate development, official name of apartheid in South Africa, is from 1955.