Etymologically
Log in

secrecy

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 05:46. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsiːkɹəsi/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English secretee (“quality of being secret”),[2][3][4] formed from Middle English secre + -tee,[3][5][6] or from secret with the same suffix.[7][6][8] The adjective secre is from Old French secré, a variant of secret,[2][3][4] from Latin sēcrētus.[4] Late in the 16th century the ending was changed to -cy,[7][3] apparently after words such as primacy in the OED's view,[7][2] and probably after privacy according to the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English.[8][9] Barnhart notes that such changes of suffix were common in early modern English.[10][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being secret or of keeping secrets: 1423, in the Kingis Quair.[7] Barnhart dates the form secretee to about 1415, in a version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and the form secrecy to 1573.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the habit of keeping things secret, and since 1563 also the state of being hidden, as in the phrase in secrecy.[7] In the 15th century it could also mean a secret, or secret matters collectively.[7] Other early senses did not last: "retirement, seclusion" (1607–67), the condition of being trusted with someone's secrets (1577–1671), and once, about 1675, the private parts.[7] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "privacy; state of being hidden", with quotations from Shakespeare.[11] The phrase sworn to secrecy means having promised to keep a secret.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1415 – the form secretee.[3]
  • 1423 – the quality or habit of keeping things secret.[7]
  • c. 1450 – a secret, secret matters.[7]
  • 1563 – the state of being secret or hidden, and the phrase in secrecy.[7]
  • 1573 – the spelling with -cy.[10][3]
  • 1577 – the condition of being trusted with secrets (obsolete by 1671).[7]
  • 1607 – retirement, seclusion (obsolete by 1667).[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state of being kept secret or hidden: The talks were held in complete secrecy.[12][7]
  2. The practice or habit of keeping things secret; secretiveness: Their love of secrecy made the committee hard to trust.[12][4][7]
  3. The ability to keep a secret; discretion: He swore the staff to secrecy.[12][8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins