Word Confusion: Secret versus Secrete

Posted July 25, 2019 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
1 Oct 2022

It’s frustrating when two words that are all about the hidden are confused secret vs secrete.

Secret is confidential, classified. Something you don’t want the general public to know about.

Secrete is about concealing something or it can be an extraction of something that produces waste.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Secret	Secrete
Secret Smiley Piotr Siedlecki is in the public domain, via Public Domain Pictures.	Post-operative Jackson-Pratt Drains is Intellec7‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — This medical device is helping to secrete blood from this man.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective; Noun Plural for the noun: secrets	Verb, transitive ¹, ² Third person present verb: secretes Past tense or past participle: secreted Present participle: secreting
Adjective: Not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others [Attrib.] Not meant to be known as such by others Fond of or good at keeping things about oneself unknown [US; of information or documents] Given the security classification above confidential and below top secret [Of information, a document, etc.] Limited to persons authorized to use information documents, etc., so classified Kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged Faithful or cautious in keeping confidential matters confidential Close-mouthed Reticent Designed or working to escape notice, knowledge, or observation Secluded, sheltered, or withdrawn Beyond ordinary human understanding Esoteric Noun: Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others Something that is not properly understood Mystery Valid but not commonly known or recognized method of achieving or maintaining something [Liturgy; initial capital letter] A variable prayer in the Roman and other Latin liturgies, said inaudibly by the celebrant after the offertory and immediately before the preface A method, formula, plan, etc., known only to the initiated or the few A reason or explanation not immediately or generally apparent	[Of a cell, gland, or organ] Produce and discharge (a substance) ¹ Conceal ² To put in a hiding place
Examples:
Adjective: How did you guess I had a secret plan? The resupply effort was probably kept secret from Congress. He was a secret drinker. He can be the most secret man. There are three levels of classification in the US: Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. They had a secret handshake. Nondisclosure agreements require you to keep confidential matters secret. I found a secret drawer! The secret police are coming. It was my secret hiding place. The knowledge is secret, known only by a small number of people with a particular interest. Battered women’s shelters require that the location be kept a secret. HIPAA requires that your medical information be kept secret from all but your doctor. Noun: Shhh, it’s a state secret. At first I tried to keep it a secret from my wife. I’m not trying to explain the secrets of the universe in this book. The secret of a happy marriage is compromise. During Mass, some prayers are meant to be a secret from the congregation, for they are between the priest and God. What’s the secret behind that Russian sub appearing in the harbor? He’d discovered the secret of happiness. You know I can’t tell you a trade secret.	Insulin is secreted in response to rising levels of glucose in the blood. You secrete saliva when you chew. On the not-so-gross side, tears are also secreted. The assets had been secreted in Swiss bank accounts. Those damn squirrels are secreting nuts in that hollow tree trunk. Priest holes were intended to secrete priests during the religious confrontations of the sixteenth century. He was arrested at the airport with a kilo of heroin secreted in his clothing.
Derivatives:
Adjective: secretive Adverb: secretively, secretly Noun: secretiveness	Adjective: secretory Noun: secretin, secreting, secretion, secretor
History of the Word:
Late Middle English from the Old French, which is from the Latin secretus adjective) meaning separate, set apart, from the verb secernere, from se- (apart) + cernere (sift).	Early 18th century, as a back-formation from secretion. Mid-18th century, as an alteration of the obsolete verb secret meaning keep secret.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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