'Sect' is Latin for 'a path followed' — from 'sequi' (to follow). Following a way that cuts you off.
A group of people with somewhat different religious beliefs from those of a larger group to which they belong; a philosophical or political group, especially one regarded as extreme or dangerous.
From Old French 'secte,' from Latin 'secta' (a way, road, beaten path, manner, school of thought, faction), derived from 'sectus,' past participle of 'sequī' (to follow), from PIE *sekʷ- (to follow). The Latin form was reshaped by folk-etymological contamination with 'secāre' (to cut), from PIE *sek- (to cut), which reinforced the notion of a sect as a group 'cut off' from the mainstream. Originally the word carried no pejorative connotation — a secta was simply the intellectual path one followed
Latin 'secta' blended two different roots: 'sequī' (to follow) and 'secāre' (to cut). This etymological ambiguity shaped the word's meaning: a sect is both a group that follows a leader and a group that is cut off from the mainstream. The double etymology reinforced both aspects — the following and the separation — making 'sect' a word with two roots pulling