Word of the Day

: October 8, 2006

furtive

adjective FER-tiv

What It Means

1 a : done by stealth : surreptitious

b : expressive of stealth : sly

2 : obtained underhandedly : stolen

furtive in Context

When Teresa asked who had left the surprise on her desk, Patrick and I exchanged furtive glances across the room.

Did You Know?

"Furtive" has a shadowy history. It may have slipped into English directly from Latin or it may have covered its tracks by arriving via French. (The French "furtif" derived from the Latin "furtivus.") But however "furtive" got into English, the Latin word "fur," meaning "thief," is at the root. "Fur" is related to, and may come from, the Greek "phōr," which also means "thief." When first used in English in the early 17th century, "furtive" carried a meaning of "done in a way so as not to be seen," though later it also came to mean, less commonly, "stolen." Whichever meaning you choose, the elusive ancestry of "furtive" is particularly fitting, since a thief must be furtive to avoid getting caught in the act!

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.