Hidden

How to spell hidden

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hidden

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hidden mean?

1. adjectiveKept out of sight or not easily noticed; concealed.
2. verbThe past participle of 'hide', used to say something has been concealed.

Hidden in a sentence

• adjective

  The contract had several hidden fees buried in the small print.

• verb

  She had hidden the spare key under a loose brick by the door.

• adjective

  A hidden camera recorded everyone who entered the warehouse.

• verb

  The documents were hidden in a locked drawer for years.

Where does hidden come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Hidden is the past participle of the verb 'hide', which descends from the Old English verb 'hydan', meaning 'to conceal or keep out of sight'. That verb belonged to the same Germanic family as words for covering and sheltering, and scholars connect it to an older root that also gave rise to 'hide' in the sense of an animal's skin, the natural covering of a body. Over time English kept a strong, irregular past participle, so 'hide' became 'hid' and then 'hidden', the form built with the old participial ending '-en' that survives in words like 'broken' and 'taken'. The doubled 'd' in the spelling reflects the short, stressed vowel in the first syllable, which is the small trap for writers who might otherwise drop a letter. By the medieval period 'hidden' was firmly established both as the participle and as a plain adjective for anything concealed.

How the word is built

• hid (from Old English hydan: to conceal)
• -en (strong past-participle ending)