secret

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Contents

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus (separated, hidden), from ptp of sēcernō (separate, to set aside, sunder out), from Latin cernō[1], from Proto-Indo-European *krey- [2] [3]. Or from Latin sēcūrus (untroubled, carefree), from cura. Compare Russian cкрытый, сокрытый ('hidden', 'covered', from Russian сокрыть ('to hide', 'to conceal'), which in turn derives from Russian крыть ('to cover')).

Displaced native Middle English diȝel "secret" (from Old English dīegol "secret"), Middle English derne, deorne "dark, hidden, secret" (from Old English dierne "dark, hidden, secret"), Middle English roune, rowne "secret, secret counsel" (from Old English rūn), Middle English hidel "secrecy, secret" (from Old English hȳdels "hiding-stow").

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA: /ˈsiːkɹɪt/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: se‧cret

Noun[edit]

secret (countable and uncountable; plural secrets)

  1. (countable, uncountable) Knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden. [from later 14th c.]
    Can you keep a secret? So can I.
    • Rambler
      To tell our secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.
  2. (uncountable) Something not understood or known.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

secret (comparative more secret, superlative most secret)

  1. Being or kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, The China Governess[3]:
      The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
    We went down a secret passage.

Alternative forms[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

secret (third-person singular simple present secrets, present participle secretting (UK) or secreting (US), simple past and past participle secretted (UK) or secreted (US))

  1. (transitive) To make or keep secret. [from late 16th c.]
    • 1984, Peter Scott Lawrence, Around the mulberry tree, Firefly Books, p. 26
      [...] she would unfold the silk, press it with a smooth wooden block that she'd heated in the oven, and then once more secret it away.
    • 1986, InfoWorld, InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
      Diskless workstations [...] make it difficult for individuals to copy information [...] onto a diskette and secret it away.
    • 1994, Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara, Monks and magicians: religious biographies in Asia, Mosaic Press, p. 50
      To prevent the elixir from reaching mankind and thereby upsetting the balance of the universe, two gods secret it away.

Usage notes[edit]

  • All other dictionaries label this sense 'obsolete', but the citations above and on the citations page demonstrate recent usage as part of the idiom "secret [something] away".
  • The present participle and past forms secreting and secreted are liable to confusion with the corresponding heteronymous forms of the similar verb secrete.

Quotations[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ George William Lemon. English etymology
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]

Statistics[edit]

Anagrams[edit]


French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Latin secrētus.

Adjective[edit]

secret m (feminine secrète, masculine plural secrets, feminine plural secrètes)

  1. secret

Etymology 2[edit]

From Latin secrētum.

Noun[edit]

secret m (plural secrets)

  1. secret

Anagrams[edit]


Middle French[edit]

Adjective[edit]

secret m (feminine singular secrete, masculine plural secrets, feminine plural secretes)

  1. secret

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French secret, Latin secretum/secretus.

Noun[edit]

secret n (plural secrete)

  1. secret

Synonyms[edit]

Adjective[edit]

secret

  1. secret, hidden

Declension[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

See also[edit]