covert

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English covert,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French covert (“covered; hidden, obscure”), later couvert,^[4][5][6] the past participle of covrir (“to cover”),^[3][5][2] from Latin cooperiō (“to cover completely”), through its past participle coopertus.^[6][2][7] It is thus related to cover.^[5][8][9] The noun is the same French participle used as a noun;^[10][4] Barnhart traces it to coverte (“cover, shelter”), from Medieval Latin coopertum (“a cover”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Concealed, secret: about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[4][6][5] The literal sense, covered or sheltered, appears in 1393, in Gower.^[4] The noun is recorded as a covering probably before 1300, according to Barnhart,^[6] and as a shelter or hiding place from before 1375, in William of Palerne.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, hidden or secret, is older in the record than the literal one, which is now rare.^[4][10] Of people, the adjective meant secretive or sly from 1340 to 1673, and of words, of hidden meaning.^[4] In law a married woman was said to be covert from 1483, being under the protection of her husband; the phrase feme covert and the noun coverture belong here.^[4][9][8] The noun narrowed to a thicket that shelters game (1494), with the hunting phrase to break covert (1566), and later named the feathers that cover the bases of a bird's larger feathers (1774).^[4][8] A covert of coots was the term for a flock of them in the 15th century.^[4][11] Johnson (1755) gave "sheltered; not open" and "secret; hidden".^[12]

Timeline

• probably before 1300 – noun, a covering.^[6]
• c. 1303 – concealed, secret.^[4][6]
• 1340 – of people, secretive, sly (obsolete by 1673).^[4]
• before 1375 – noun, a shelter or hiding place.^[4]
• 1393 – literally covered, sheltered.^[4]
• 1483 – in law, of a married woman, under her husband's protection.^[4]
• 1494 – a thicket sheltering game.^[4]
• 1774 – the small feathers covering the bases of a bird's larger feathers.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Concealed or secret; not openly shown or admitted: a covert operation.^[11][2][4]
2. (law) Of a married woman, under the protection and authority of her husband.^[11][4]
3. (archaic) Covered or sheltered.^[4][10]

Noun

1. A shelter or hiding place.^[11][2][4]
2. A thicket or small wood that gives cover to game.^[11][2][4]
3. One of the small feathers that cover the bases of the larger feathers of a bird's wing or tail.^[11][4]
4. A flock of coots.^[11][10]

Word family

• covertly
• covertness

Related words

• cover
• overt
• coverture
• feme covert

Usage notes

The traditional pronunciation rhymes the first syllable with cover, and it is still the usual one in British English; in American English the adjective is now more often said like overt, its opposite, perhaps because the two are often paired in the news, while the noun keeps the older vowel more often.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.