Concelement

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of hiding something from sight or keeping it secret from others
2. The practice of deliberately obscuring or withholding something to prevent discovery
3. The action of keeping something concealed or unknown to prevent it from being revealed

Etymology: Latin "celare" meant simply "to hide," and the verb "conceal" grew from it through Old French "conceler," with the prefix "con-" adding a sense of thoroughness. "Concelement" is the noun built on that verb with the suffix "-ment," which turns a verb into the act or result of doing it. Put together, it means the act of hiding something completely. English later settled on "concealment," using the same suffix on the English verb. "Concelement" is now obsolete, and it survives mainly in older texts, where it shows how English nouns in "-ment" were often shaped by French spelling and sound before English forms became standard.