Secret

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsiːkɹɪt/
• Hyphenation: se + cret

Origin

Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus ("separated, hidden"), from ptp of sēcernō ("separate, to set aside, sunder out"), from Latin cernō

George William Lemon. English etymology

, from Proto-Indo-European *krey-

http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=\data\ie\piet&first=1&text_proto=*kr%C4%93y-&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=&method_meaning=substring&ic_meaning=on&text_hitt=&method_hitt=substring&ic_hitt=on&text_tokh=&method_tokh=substring&ic_tokh=on&text_ind=&method_ind=substring&ic_ind=on&text_avest=&method_avest=substring&ic_avest=on&text_iran=&method_iran=substring&ic_iran=on&text_arm=&method_arm=substring&ic_arm=on&text_greek=&method_greek=substring&ic_greek=on&text_slav=&method_slav=substring&ic_slav=on&text_balt=&method_balt=substring&ic_balt=on&text_germ=&method_germ=substring&ic_germ=on&text_lat=&method_lat=substring&ic_lat=on&text_ital=&method_ital=substring&ic_ital=on&text_celt=&method_celt=substring&ic_celt=on&text_alb=&method_alb=substring&ic_alb=on&text_rusmean=&method_rusmean=substring&ic_rusmean=on&text_refer=&method_refer=substring&ic_refer=on&text_comment=&method_comment=substring&ic_comment=on&text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on

http://www.myetymology.com/proto-indo-european/krei-.html

. Or from Latin sēcūrus ("untroubled, carefree"), from cura. Compare Russian cкрытый, сокрытый ('hidden', 'covered', from Russian сокрыть ('to hide', 'to conceal'), which in turn derives from Russian крыть ('to cover')).

Displaced native Middle English diȝel "secret" (from Old English dīegol "secret"), Middle English derne, deorne ("") "dark, hidden, secret" (from Old English dierne "dark, hidden, secret"), Middle English roune, rowne ("") "secret, secret counsel" (from Old English rūn), Middle English hidel "secrecy, secret" (from Old English hȳdels "hiding-stow").

Full definition of secret

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden. from later 14th c.
• 2013-06-14, Jonathan Freedland, Obama's once hip brand is now tainted, Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
• RamblerTo tell our secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.
2. Can you keep a secret? So can I.
3. (uncountable) Something not understood or known.
• MiltonAll secrets of the deep, all nature's works.
4. (archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.

Synonyms

• dern

Derived terms

Adjective

1. Being or kept hidden. from late 14th c.
   We went down a secret passage.
• Bible, Deuteronomy xxix. 29The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 1, The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
2. (obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
• Fentonsecret in her sapphire cell
3. (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive.
• ShakespeareSecret Romans, that have spoke the word,
  And will not palter.
4. (obsolete) Separate; distinct.
• CudworthThey suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.

Alternative forms

• secrette obsolete

Synonyms

• private
• dern
• confidential
• concealed

Antonyms

• overt

Derived terms

Related terms

• secrete
• secretion

Verb

1. (transitive) To make or keep secret. from late 16th c.
• 1984, Peter Scott Lawrence, Around the mulberry tree, Firefly Books, p. 26... she would unfold the silk, press it with a smooth wooden block that she'd heated in the oven, and then once more secret it away.
• 1986, InfoWorld, InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.Diskless workstations ... make it difficult for individuals to copy information ... onto a diskette and secret it away.
• 1994, Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara, Monks and magicians: religious biographies in Asia, Mosaic Press, p. 50To prevent the elixir from reaching mankind and thereby upsetting the balance of the universe, two gods secret it away.

Usage notes

All other dictionaries label this sense 'obsolete', but the citations above and on the citations page demonstrate recent usage as part of the idiom "secret something away".

The present participle and past forms secreting and secreted are liable to confusion with the corresponding heteronymous forms of the similar verb secrete.

Derived terms

• secrete

Anagrams

• certes, erects, resect, terces