furtive

Etymology

It is borrowed from French furtif, feminine furtive,^[2][3][4][5] and perhaps also directly borrowed from Latin fūrtīvus (“stolen; hidden, secret”).^[6][7][8][9] The Latin adjective comes from fūrtum (“theft, a stolen thing”),^[10][11][3] from fūr (“thief”).^{[2][10][11][3]} De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *bhōr (“thief”), with the cognate Ancient Greek φώρ (phṓr, “thief”), and doubts the old suggestion that the Latin word was borrowed from the Greek.^[12] Etymonline, Ayto and others connect the noun with *bher- (“to carry”), so that a thief is one who carries things off,^{[10][11][3][4]} and thus with bear and Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō, “to carry”).^[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Done by stealth, secret: the OED dates the word to 1490.^[2] Barnhart finds only furtively in that year, in Caxton's Eneydos, and dates the adjective to 1612,^[3] which is also Merriam-Webster's first date.^[6] Hoad calls it rare before the 17th century,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 17th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the sense "stolen" had already spread to "hidden, secret",^[10] and that secondary sense is the first one recorded in English.^[2] The literal "stolen, obtained by theft" is recorded only from 1718, in Prior,^[2] whom Johnson quotes in 1755 for his one definition, "stolen; gotten by theft".^[13] "Thievish, pilfering" follows in 1816.^[2] The sense "stealthy, sly", applied to a person, is dated by the OED to 1859, in Bulwer-Lytton.^[2][9] Barnhart remarks that the noun furtiveness is not recorded until 1896.^[3] Ayto notes that a ferret is etymologically a "furtive" animal.^[11]

Timeline

• 1490 – done by stealth, secret.^[2]
• 1718 – stolen, or taken secretly, in Prior.^[2]
• 1816 – thievish, pilfering.^[2]
• 1852 – a term of Hebrew grammar, in a translation of Gesenius.^[2]
• 1859 – of a person, stealthy, sly.^[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Done by stealth or in the hope of not being noticed; secret, surreptitious: He took a furtive peek at the answers.^[6][14][2]
2. Of a person or manner, suggesting stealth; sly or shifty.^[6][14][2]
3. Obtained by underhand means; stolen.^[6][2][9]
4. Given to stealing; thievish.^[6][2]

Word family

• furtively
• furtiveness

Related words

• ferret
• bear

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House