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secretive

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Etymology and origin of the English word secretive

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation, Back-formation
First attested
c. 1470 John Hardyng's Chronicle
Ultimate origin
Latin sēcernō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin secretus
English secret
English secretive
French secret
Italian segreto
From the same root
Latin secretarium ← secretus
Latin secretarius ← secretus
Italian segretario ← segreto

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsiːkɹɪtɪv/[1]

Etymology

The modern word is a back-formation from secretiveness,[2][3][4][5][6] which was a term of phrenology for a propensity to secrecy,[3][7][2] formed after French secrétivité, a phrenological word of Gall's (1808).[2][3][5] It was felt to be formed from English secret + -ive,[2] and is now also taken as formed from secrete (“to hide”) and the suffix.[2] In the 15th century the word had already been formed in the same way, but that use died out.[2][6] The adjective is from French secret, from Latin sēcrētus (“set apart, hidden”), the past participle of sēcernō (“to set apart”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Secret, hidden: about 1470, in John Hardyng's Chronicle, where it is used for the rhyme.[2][6] Etymonline has a Middle English secretife from the mid-15th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English word was rare and soon died out.[2][6] The modern adjective grew out of the language of phrenology: secretiveness is recorded from 1815, in Spurzheim,[2][7] for one of the propensities of the mind.[3] Etymonline finds the adjective implied in that year,[7] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1835,[4] and the OED's first record of the sense "inclined to secrecy, reticent" is from 1853, in Charlotte Brontë's Villette.[2] From 1865 it was used of looks and the like that show secretiveness,[2][4] and a rare sense "serving to conceal" is recorded from 1830.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1470 – secret, hidden (now obsolete).[2][6]
  • 1815 – secretiveness, in phrenology; the adjective is implied.[2][7]
  • 1830 – serving to conceal (rare).[2]
  • 1835 – inclined to secrecy, in Merriam-Webster's dating.[4] The OED's first record of the sense is in Charlotte Brontë's Villette (1853).[2]
  • 1865 – of looks: showing secretiveness.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Inclined to secrecy; keeping one's thoughts, plans or doings hidden; reticent: He was secretive about where he spent his evenings.[8][4][2]
  2. Of looks or manner: showing a wish to keep things hidden: a secretive glance.[4][2][6]
  3. Serving to conceal (rare).[2]
  4. Secretory.[4]
  5. (obsolete) Secret, hidden.[2][6]

Word family

  • secretively
  • secretiveness
  • nonsecretive
  • supersecretive
  • unsecretive

Usage notes

The first edition of the OED (1911) gave both /ˈsiːkrətɪv/ and /sɪˈkriːtɪv/, the second linking the word with secrete.[2] Merriam-Webster discusses it with its synonyms at silent.[4]

References

  1. ^ 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 q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Secretive.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/secretive. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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