Etymology

secretive

S1E1C3R1E1T1I1V4E1

Today it means: Having an inclination to secrecy. Full definition →

Middle English secretife
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

secretive · adjective1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromsecretife
  2. English todaysecretive

From Middle English secretife, equivalent to secret + -ive.

secretive · adjective2

From secrete + -ive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.