secret

English Online Dictionary. What means secret‎? What does secret mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus (“separated, hidden”), from ptp of sēcernō (“separate, to set aside, sunder out”), from cernō, from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Displaced Old English dēagol (“secret”) and dēagolnes (“a secret”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːkɹɪt/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsiːkɹət/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈsiːkɹɛt/
• Hyphenation: se‧cret
• Rhymes: -iːkɹɪt, -iːkɹət, -iːkɹɛt

Noun

secret (countable and uncountable, plural secrets)

1. (countable) A piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
   • May 1 , 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 13

     To tell our own secrets is generally folly, but that folly is without guilt; to communicate those with which we are intrusted is always treachery
2. The key or principle by which something is made clear; the knack.

   The secret to a long-lasting marriage is compromise.

3. Something not understood or known.
4. (uncountable) Private seclusion.

5. (archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.
6. (historical) A form of steel skullcap.
8. (Christianity, often in the plural) Any prayer spoken inaudibly and not aloud; especially, one of the prayers in the Tridentine Mass, immediately following the "orate, fratres", said inaudibly by the celebrant.

Synonyms

• dern

Derived terms

Descendants

• Pitcairn-Norfolk: siikret

Translations

Adjective

secret (comparative more secret, superlative most secret)

1. Being or kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
2. (obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
3. (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive, separate, apart.
4. (obsolete) Separate; distinct.

Alternative forms

• secrette (obsolete)

Synonyms

• see Thesaurus:hidden and Thesaurus:covert

Antonyms

• overt

Derived terms

Related terms

• secrete
• secretion

Translations

Verb

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

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.

2. (transitive) To hide secretly.

   He was so scared for his safety he secreted arms around the house.

Usage notes

• 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

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:secret.

Derived terms

• secrete

References

• “†ˈsecret, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
  Tagged as obsolete. Notes: “In the inflected forms it is not easy to distinguish between ˈsecret and secrete v.”
• “Se"cret (?), v. t.” listed on page 1,301 of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
  Se"cret (?), v. t. To keep secret. [Obs.] Bacon.

Anagrams

• Cretes, certes, erects, resect, terces

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sēcrētus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [səˈkɾet]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [səˈkɾət]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [seˈkɾet]

Adjective

secret (feminine secreta, masculine plural secrets, feminine plural secretes)

1. secret

Derived terms

• secretament
• secretisme

Noun

secret m (plural secrets)

1. secret

Derived terms

• en secret

Further reading

• “secret” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “secret”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “secret” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “secret” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə.kʁɛ/, (dated) /sə.ɡʁɛ/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French secret, from Old French secret, borrowed from Latin secrētus.

Adjective

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

1. secret

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old French secret, borrowed from Latin secrētum.

Noun

secret m (plural secrets)

1. secret
2. secrecy

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Romanian: secret

Further reading

• “secret”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• certes, crêtes, terces

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French secret.

Adjective

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

1. secret

Descendants

• French: secret
  • → Romanian: secret

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French secret, Latin secretum, secretus. Doublet of săcret.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seˈkret/

Noun

secret n (plural secrete)

1. secret

   Synonym: taină

Declension

Adjective

secret m or n (feminine singular secretă, masculine plural secreți, feminine and neuter plural secrete)

1. secret, hidden

   Synonyms: tainic, ascuns

Declension

Related terms

• săcret