- separate (v.)
- late 14c., from Latin separatus, past participle of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret) + parare "make ready, prepare" (see pare). Sever (q.v.) is a doublet, via French. Related: Separated; separating.
- separate (adj.)
- "detached, kept apart," c.1600, from separate (v.). Separate but equal in reference to U.S. segregation policies on railroads is attested from 1890. Separate development, official name of apartheid in South Africa, is from 1955.