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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

privy.

Private, exclusive; not public; one's own.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈpɹɪvi/
  1. Private, exclusive; not public; one's own.

    historical
    The king retreated to his privy chamber.
    the privy purse
  2. Secret, hidden, concealed.

    archaic
  3. With knowledge of; party to; let in on.

    He was privy to the discussions.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pryvy, prive, from Old French privé (“private”), from Latin prīvātus (“deprived”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive; to free, release”). Doublet of private.

noun/ˈpɹɪvi/
  1. An outdoor facility for urination and defecation, whether open (latrine) or enclosed (outhouse).

  2. A lavatory: a room with a toilet.

  3. A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation.

  4. A partaker; one having an interest in an action, contract, etc. to which he is not himself a party.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English pryvy, prive, from Old French privé (“private”), from Latin prīvātus (“deprived”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive; to free, release”). Doublet of private.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.