Etymologically
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privy

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prive,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman prevé and Old French privé (“intimate, familiar; private; secret”),[5][6][7] from Latin prīvātus (“private, personal”),[5][6][8][9] from prīvus (“single, alone”).[8] It is a doublet of private, taken directly from Latin.[9][5] In Old French the adjective was also a noun, meaning an intimate friend and a private place or latrine,[7][10][5] and in Anglo-Norman legal use one of several people sharing an interest in an action or contract.[5] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the 12th century, already with the senses private, secluded, intimate and secret.[11] The English phrase meaning "in secret" follows en privé.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, intimate or familiar, belonging to one's close circle: about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle.[5] Barnhart dates both the adjective and the noun, a toilet or private place, to probably before 1200, in the same work,[9] and Etymonline dates the noun to about 1200.[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense "secret, clandestine" is recorded from about 1230, and "reserved for the use of a particular person or group" from about 1300;[5][6] the latter survives in fixed phrases such as privy council, privy purse and privy seal.[7][12] Weekley dates privy council from 1300;[12] Barnhart records it first for private affairs or secret advice, and about 1390, in Chaucer, for a group of advisers to a king.[9] The sense "sharing in the knowledge of something secret", usually with to, appears in Gower before 1393.[5][6] Chaucer used the adjective 42 times, for secret, private, stealthy and, with members, sexual.[13] Johnson (1755) listed "private; not publick" and "secret; clandestine".[14] The noun took the sense of a confidant about 1300,[9] and in law of a person sharing an interest in an action or property.[3][10] Today the adjective is mostly used in privy to, its other senses being archaic,[15][10] and the noun mostly means an outdoor toilet.[15][10] In Scots and in several English dialects privy was also a name for privet.[16]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – noun, a private place, toilet (Barnhart's date, c. 1200 in Etymonline).[9][6]
  • c. 1225 – intimate, familiar (obsolete by 1673).[5]
  • c. 1230 – secret, clandestine.[5]
  • c. 1300 – reserved for a particular person's use; of places, secluded.[5][6]
  • c. 1300 – noun, a confidant, and privy council, private affairs.[9]
  • c. 1390 – privy council, a king's advisers, in Chaucer.[9]
  • before 1393 – sharing in the knowledge of a secret, in Gower.[5]
  • 1560 – privy mark, a distinguishing mark.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. privy to: sharing in the knowledge of something secret or private: Only two clerks were privy to the plan.[15][10][5]
  2. (archaic) Secret, hidden; clandestine or furtive.[15][10][5]
  3. (archaic) Belonging to or reserved for a particular person; private, as in privy purse.[15][3][7]
  4. (obsolete, 1225–1673) Intimate, familiar; of one's close circle.[5][7][3]

Noun

  1. A toilet, especially one in a small shed outside a house; an outhouse.[15][10][3]
  2. (law) A person who has a part or interest in an action, contract or property.[10][3][15]

Word family

  • privily
  • privy council
  • privy seal

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)