second
n. countablen. a very short period of time. You use this when you want someone to wait for a moment.
n. a unit of time equal to one-sixtieth of a minute. Often used figuratively in informal speech to denote a brief, unspecified interval.
Wait a second while I grab my keys.
The race was so close that the winner finished only a fraction of a second ahead of the runner-up.
In the high-frequency trading environment, a single second represents an eternity, as algorithms execute thousands of transactions before a human can even blink.
From Middle English secunde, second, secound, secund, borrowed from Old French second, seond, from Latin secundus (“following, next in order”), from root of sequor (“to follow”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). Doublet of secund and secundo. Displaced native twoth and partially displaced native other (from Old English ōþer (“other; next; second”)).
From Middle English secunde, seconde, borrowed from Old French seconde, from Medieval Latin secunda, short for secunda pars minuta (“second diminished part (of the hour)”).
From Middle French seconder, from Latin secundō (“assist, make favorable”).
Commonly used in the singular with 'a' or 'one' to request a brief delay.