furtive

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French furtif (“stealthy”), from Latin fūrtīvus (“stolen”), from fūrtum (“theft”), from fūr (“thief”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfɜːtɪv/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): [ˈfɜːɾɪv]
  • (US) IPA(key): [ˈfɝ.ɽɪv]
  • Audio (US)(file)

Adjective

furtive (comparative more furtive, superlative most furtive)

  1. Stealthy.
  2. Exhibiting guilty or evasive secrecy.
    • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p31
      But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations
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Translations to be checked

French

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /fyʁtiv/

Adjective

furtive

  1. feminine singular of furtif

Italian

Adjective

furtive

  1. Feminine plural of adjective furtivo.

Latin

Adjective

furtive

  1. masculine vocative singular of fūrtīvus

References
  • furtive in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • furtive in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • furtive in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
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