conceal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concelen, also conselen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman conceler (“to keep secret; to hide”),^[5][6][3] also written cunceler and conseler,^[5] and partly directly borrowed from Latin concēlō (“to keep secret”).^[5][2] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from about 1230, or from the first third of the 13th century as cunceler.^[6][5] The Latin verb, used by Aulus Gellius in the 2nd century, is formed from con-, here an intensive prefix, and cēlō (“to hide”),^[5][7][8][4] from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover, conceal, save”).^[7][8][9] Klein and Ayto trace to the same root occulō (“to cover up, conceal”) and cella (“storeroom”), the sources of occult and cell, and Ayto adds apocalypse and probably colour.^[10][11] From the adverb clam (“secretly”), another offshoot of the same Latin verb, came clandestīnus, the source of clandestine.^[11] Merriam-Webster and Skeat relate the root to the Germanic one of hell and helm.^[12][13] The English verb took the place of Old English deagan.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To keep something secret, to refrain from revealing it: before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi, according to Barnhart,^[4] and in the early 14th century according to Etymonline.^[7] The OED's first quotation is from Gower's Confessio Amantis (before 1393): "Thou hast to me conceled That my lord hath with othre deled".^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, "to hide from sight", followed in the early 15th century: the OED's first example is from Lydgate's Troy Book (about 1425), and Barnhart dates it probably before 1420.^[5][7][4] The Middle English verb could also mean to put someone in a secret place or to hide oneself.^[2] From 1598 it was used of keeping the identity of a person or thing secret, now mainly in the construction concealed as,^[5] from 1794 of masking a taste or smell,^[5] and since 1804 intransitively, of practising concealment.^[5] In English law concealed land was land kept from the Crown without proper title, especially former monastic land after the Reformation; the phrase is now only historical.^[14] Johnson (1755) gave "to hide; to keep secret; not to divulge" as the meaning.^[15]

Timeline

• before 1325 – concelen, to keep secret.^[4]
• before 1393 – to keep information from others, in Gower.^[5][2]
• c. 1425 – to hide a person or thing from view.^[5]
• 1591 – intransitive, to hide oneself (rare, obsolete).^[5]
• 1598 – to disguise the identity of a person or thing.^[5]
• 1794 – to mask a flavour or smell.^[5]
• 1804 – intransitive, to practise concealment.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put or keep out of sight; to hide: The key was concealed under a loose brick.^[16][12][5]
2. To keep something secret; to avoid revealing it: He could not conceal his disappointment.^[16][12][5]
3. To disguise the nature or identity of a person or thing, now mainly with as.^[5][12]
4. To mask a taste, smell or the like so that it cannot be noticed.^[5]

Word family

• concealable
• concealer
• concealment
• concealability
• concealedly
• concealedness

Related words

• cell
• occult
• clandestine
• hell
• helm
• apocalypse

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins