secrete
to release or hide away
Roots
- cern / cret: sift, separate, distinguish, or set apart
- se-: apart, aside, or away
Other words with the cern / cret root
- discern: to notice or distinguish clearly
- discerning: showing careful judgment
- discrete: separate and distinct
- secret: kept apart from public knowledge
Secrete has two useful set-apart images: a gland releases a substance, or a person hides something away.
The gland secretes a hormone at night; the spy secretes the note under a loose tile.
The same spelling can move in two directions. In biology, secrete means to produce and release. In older or formal use, it can mean to conceal. Both keep the set-apart image.