secret

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsiː.krət/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English secret,^[2] borrowed from Old French secret (“concealed, private”),^[3][4] and directly borrowed from Latin sēcrētus (“set apart, withdrawn, hidden”),^[4][3] the past participle of sēcernō (“I set apart, divide”),^[4][3] from sē- “apart” and cernō (“I separate, sift”),^[4][3][2] the source of certain.^[3] Etymonline takes cernō to Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”).^[4] The noun is from Latin sēcrētum “a secret”, the neuter used as a noun.^[3][4] A form secre, from an Old French variant, was common from the 14th to the 16th century and seems at first to have been the more frequent.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, “hidden, concealed, private”: about 1378, in a version of Piers Plowman,^[3] the late 14th century.^[4] The noun, “something kept secret, a mystery”, is from about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius,^[3] and secre, “a prayer said in a low voice”, from about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the late 14th century a secret was what is hidden from human understanding, and in the early 15th century also what is hidden from general knowledge.^[4] The sense “something studiously concealed, that should not be revealed” is from the mid-15th century.^[4] A place removed from people, secluded, is secret from the early 16th century.^[5] The sense “the key by which a difficulty is solved”, as in the secret of success, is from 1738, perhaps from the idea of a method hidden from the uninitiated (late 15th century).^[4] The verb, “to keep secret”, is from the 1590s.^[4][5] Secret weapon is by the 1590s, secret agent by 1715, secret service from 1737 and secret police by 1823.^[4] The same Latin word gave secretary and secrete.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – secre, a low-voiced prayer.^[3]
• c. 1378 – adjective, hidden.^[3]
• c. 1380 – noun, a mystery.^[3]
• mid-15th century – something kept hidden.^[4]
• 1590s – verb, to keep secret.^[4][5]
• 1715 – secret agent.^[4]
• 1737 – secret service.^[4]
• 1738 – the key to success.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Kept hidden from others or known only to a few.
2. Working in a hidden way: a secret agent.
3. Not openly expressed; inward: a secret longing.
4. Secluded; hidden from view: a secret garden.
5. Beyond ordinary understanding; mysterious.

Noun

1. Something kept hidden or known only to a few.
2. Something not understood; a mystery.
3. A method or key on which success depends.
4. (Christianity) A prayer said by the priest before the Preface of the Mass.

Word family

• secretly
• secretness
• nonsecret
• supersecret
• secrete
• ultrasecret
• secretive
• top-secret

Related words

• secretion
• secrecy
• secretary
• certain
• discern

Usage notes

Secret is the most general word for what is deliberately hidden;^[7] stealthy and furtive suggest sly, quiet movement, covert and clandestine concealment for an illicit purpose, and surreptitious a hurried, guilty secrecy.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin