Furtive
/ˈfɜːr.tɪv/noun
Done in a secret, sly, or sneaky way.
Did you know?Furtive comes from Latin roots tied to stealing, and it shares a deep ancestry with words for thieves and theft, making “secretive” feel a lot less neutral.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*peḱ-
“to seize, take, or grasp”
Latin
Latin
furtum
“theft, a stealing”
Latin
Latin
furtivus
“stolen, done by stealth; secret”
Old French
Old French
furtif
“secret, sly, stealthy”
Middle English
English
furtive
“done by stealth; secretive”