Undisclosed

How to spell undisclosed

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce undisclosed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does undisclosed mean?

1. adjectiveNot made known or revealed; kept secret.

Undisclosed in a sentence

• The company sold the building for an undisclosed sum.

• The witness gave evidence from an undisclosed location.

Where does undisclosed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the verb 'disclose', which English took from the Old French 'desclore', meaning 'to open up' or 'to reveal'. That French verb traces back to the Latin 'disclaudere', formed from 'dis-', a prefix signalling reversal or undoing, plus 'claudere', meaning 'to close' or 'to shut'. So at its literal root, to disclose is to un-shut something, to open what was kept closed, which is a neat memory hook for the spelling. English added its own native prefix 'un-' (meaning 'not') and the suffix '-ed' to create 'undisclosed', meaning something that has not been opened up or made known. The same 'claudere' root quietly survives in relatives such as 'include', 'exclude', and 'closet', all of which involve shutting things in or out.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• dis- (apart, reverse)
• clos (from Latin claudere: to close, shut)
• -ed (adjective/participle)